Preparatory study for the re-evaluation of the EQ-5D tariff

资源是有限的，需要有效地分配。设立国家卫生和临床卓越研究所（NICE）是为了帮助作出更好的卫生保健资源分配决定。NICE的建议基于成本效益，EQ-5D是量化医疗干预对健康相关生活质量影响的首选工具。EQ-5D是一种工具，它将243种不同的健康状态与5个不同的健康维度进行分类，每个健康维度都有一个确定的严重程度。NICE使用EQ-5D关税。这是一组数字，表示每个EQ-5D健康状态下与健康相关的生活质量水平，1代表完全健康，0代表死亡。通过比较患者在治疗前后的不同EQ-5D状态，分析人员可以计算出治疗的效果。目前的EQ-5D关税是根据1994年的一项调查得出的。该研究要求公众“重视”？通过特别设计的问卷，选择假设的EQ-5D状态。然而，在过去15年中，出现了各种事态发展，导致需要进行“重新评价”。EQ-5D。为了使NICE做出最适当的决策，EQ-5D种群值集需要是最新的，基于对如何评估健康状态的最新理解。拟议的预备研究是一项方法学工作，将有助于重新评估EQ-5D关税。目的是为实际的再评价研究提供一个方案。该计划将研究不同的方式来调查公众，例如通过网上调查或面对面访谈。该项目还将研究设计和编写问卷的不同方法，以评估假设的EQ-5D状态，或者使用哪些EQ-5D状态。它将从一项大规模的在线调查开始，以评估相关的问题，通过调查大量的人来探索一长串问题，但不是很详细。然后，这项研究将进行一项小规模的访谈研究，研究人员可以向参与者询问更详细的问题。项目的最后阶段将测试推荐的研究方案，以供实际的重新评估研究使用，并进行进一步的微调。

Resources are limited and need to be allocated efficiently. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was set up to help make better health care resource allocation decisions. NICE bases its recommendations on cost effectiveness, and the EQ-5D is the preferred instrument to use when quantifying the health related quality of life impact of medical interventions. EQ-5D is a tool that classifies 243 different health states with 5 different dimensions of health, each with an identified level of severity.NICE uses an EQ-5D ?tariff?. This is a set of numbers that indicate the level of health related quality of life of each EQ-5D health state, on a scale with 1 for full health and 0 for dead. By comparing the different EQ-5D states patients are in before and after treatment, analysts can calculate how effective the treatment is.The current EQ-5D tariff is based on a survey in 1994. The study asked members of the general public to ?value? a selection of hypothetical EQ-5D states using a specially designed questionnaire. However, in the past 15 years, there have been various developments that have lead to the need for a ?re-evaluation? of the EQ-5D. In order for NICE to make the most appropriate decisions, the EQ-5D population value set needs to be one that is up to date, based on the latest understanding of how to value health states.The proposed preparatory study is a methodological piece of work that will contribute to the re-evaluation of the EQ-5D tariff. The aim is to produce a protocol for an actual re-evaluation study to use. The project will look into different ways of surveying members of the public, for instance, by on-line surveys or by face to face interviews. The project will also look at different ways of designing and wording the questionnaire to value hypothetical EQ-5D states, or which EQ-5D states to use. It will start with a large scale on-line survey to gauge the relevant concerns, where a long list of issues can be explored by surveying a large number of people, but not in much detail. The study will then move on to a smaller scale interview study, where researchers can ask participants more detailed questions. The final stage of the project will be to test out a recommended study protocol for the actual re-evaluation study to use, and make any further fine tuning adjustments.