Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2007Decision Analysis: A Personal Account of How It Got Started and Evolved
In this chapter, Howard Raiffa discusses the evolution of decision analysis and his personal involvement …
In this chapter, Howard Raiffa discusses the evolution of decision analysis and his personal involvement in its development. He describes the early days of Operations Research (OR) in the late 1940s with its approach to complex, strategic decision making. After reading John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern’s Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1947) and Abraham Wald’s two books (1947, 1950), he became involved in statistical decision theory. A few years later, after reading Leonard…
Preferences/Values | Probability/Bayes | Decision Theory | Decision Analysis | Operations Research | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Energy/Engineering | Health/Medicine -
ReviewPublication 2021Review of Web-Based Tools for Value-of-Information Analysis
Value-of-information analysis (VOI) is an analytic approach used to inform research priorities, guide clinical trial …
Value-of-information analysis (VOI) is an analytic approach used to inform research priorities, guide clinical trial design, and provide information for decisions about reimbursement. The authors review existing web-based tools to facilitate VOI calculations. These include Sheffield Accelerated Value of Information (SAVI), the web interface to the BCEA (Bayesian Cost-Effectiveness Analysis) R package (BCEAweb), Rapid Assessment of Need for Evidence (RANE), and Value of Information for Cardiovascular Trials and Other Comparative Research (VICTOR).
Priority Setting/Ethics | Decision Theory | Value of Information | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2020Impact of Treatment and Imaging Modalities on 5-Year Net Survival of 11 Cancers in 200 Countries
This analysis describes the development of a microsimulation model of stage-specific cancer survival in 200 …
This analysis describes the development of a microsimulation model of stage-specific cancer survival in 200 countries/territories for 11 cancers (oesophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, anus, liver, pancreas, lung, breast, cervix uteri, and prostate). The paper estimated current 5-year net survival for diagnosed cancers in each country and potential survival gains from increasing the availability of individual treatment and imaging modalities, and more comprehensive packages of scale-up. Global 5-year net survival for all 11 cancers (combined) is…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Calibration/Validation | Health Outcomes | Microsimulation | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Global -
ArticlePublication 2021Rational Policymaking during a Pandemic
Policymaking during a pandemic can be extremely challenging. As COVID-19 is a new disease and …
Policymaking during a pandemic can be extremely challenging. As COVID-19 is a new disease and its global impacts are unprecedented, decisions are taken in a highly uncertain, complex, and rapidly changing environment. In such a context, in which human lives and the economy are at stake, the authors argue that using ideas and constructs from modern decision theory, even informally, will make policymaking a more responsible and transparent process.
Priority Setting/Ethics | Decision Theory | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global -
ArticlePublication 2020Testing for SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies
Antibody testing can determine previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 virus. Recently, the UK government has made …
Antibody testing can determine previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 virus. Recently, the UK government has made antibody testing available to anyone wanting it, even if there is no clinical indication. The purpose of this article is to provide guidance for when to consider antibody testing in individuals with and without symptoms suggestive of current or past SARS-CoV-2 infection. Key points made by the authors include: (1) antibody testing is likely to be most useful 2 weeks…
Probability/Bayes | Technology Assessment | Test Performance | Infectious Diseases | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine -
EditorialPublication 2020Waiting for Certainty on COVID-19 Antibody Tests — At What Cost?
This perspective anticipates the availability of serologic antibody testing and considers its potential usefulness in mitigation …
This perspective anticipates the availability of serologic antibody testing and considers its potential usefulness in mitigation policy to reduce COVID-19 transmission. For example: Could we screen for serologic antibodies as a proxy for possible immunity and identify people who could return to the workplace with less severe mitigation measures? The authors acknowledge the uncertainties raised by many policy actors, including the WHO, such as, "Do antibodies confer immunity and, if so, for how long? How accurate is…
Probability/Bayes | Technology Assessment | Test Performance | Infectious Diseases | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Global | North America -
ArticlePublication 2020Incorporating Perspective into Clinical Decisions
Part of a six-part series of articles on clinical decision making, in this article, the …
Part of a six-part series of articles on clinical decision making, in this article, the authors discuss how to incorporate perspective into clinical decisions, explicitly acknowledging that the treating physician is not the only stakeholder in these decisions. The authors use 2 case studies to demonstrate how changes in perspective can alter the clinical decision as well lead to both intended and unintended consequences to the outcomes.
Priority Setting/Ethics | Preferences/Values | Health Outcomes | Health Systems | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine -
EditorialPublication 2018Combining A4R and MCDA in Priority Setting for Health
Multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) has been proposed as a method for determining the criteria …
Multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) has been proposed as a method for determining the criteria to be used in health technology assessment. A standard criticism of MCDA is that it lacks attention to securing legitimacy for its decisions. Accountability for reasonableness (A4R) proposes four conditions (publicity, relevance, revisability and enforcement) that must be met if legitimacy and fairness are to be ascribed to decisions about priority setting.The relevance condition of A4R has been criticized for…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Preferences/Values | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2018Trading Bankruptcy for Health: A Discrete-Choice Experiment
This article in Value in Health evaluates the importance of improved health as compared to …
This article in Value in Health evaluates the importance of improved health as compared to improved financial risk protection in the general United States population. Using a discrete-choice experiment, it finds that 31.3% of the population values cure at all costs, and 8.5% of the population use financial solvency to dominate medical decision making. This study shares insight to the US population values and trade-offs between health outcomes and financial health, and highlights the difficult…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Preferences/Values | Health Outcomes | Health Systems | Culture/Society | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | North America