Improvement of access and reimbursement trajectories and beyond

This research shows that while it is possible to make estimates of the cost-effectiveness of specific (drug) therapies, pharmacoeconomic considerations do not appear to figure prominently in reimbursement decision-making across all European countries. Which considerations are in fact given prominence can’t be said with certainty, since the studied processes suffered from a lack of transparency. This project therefore recommends formulating a standard European reimbursement trajectory. This standard trajectory should be cognizant of differences in health system goals, since health system goals vary across countries. This research proposes a method for demarcating national societal valuations of health system goals, based on discrete choice experiments among citizens. Implementing this method would further enable international comparisons between health systems and could contribute to the social justice of these health systems.

Results

• Franken M, Koolman X. Health system goals: A discrete choice experiment to obtain societal valuations. In: Health Policy, 2013. (journal publication)
• Franken M, Van Gils C, Gaultney J, Delwel G, Goettsch W, Huijgens P, Steenhoek A, Punt C, Koopman M, Redekop W, Uyl-de Groot C. Practical feasibility of outcomes research in oncology: lessons learned in assessing drug use and cost-effectiveness in The Netherlands. In: European Journal of Cancer, 2013. (journal publication)
• Franken M, Le Polain M, Cleemput I, Koopmanschap M. Similarities and differences between five European medicine reimbursement systems. In: Int J Technol Assess Health Care, 2012; 28(4): 349-57. (journal publication)