Value of Information Analysis for Research Decisions—An Introduction: Report 1 of the ISPOR Value of Information Analysis Emerging Good Practices Task Force

• Published in: Value in health Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 139 - 150
• Main Authors: Fenwick, Elisabeth, Steuten, Lotte, Knies, Saskia, Ghabri, Salah, Basu, Anirban, Murray, James F., Koffijberg, Hendrik (Erik), Strong, Mark, Sanders Schmidler, Gillian D., Rothery, Claire
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.02.2020; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Analysis; Budgets; Cost Savings; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Decision Making; Decision Support Techniques; Drug Costs; Drug Development - economics; expected net benefit of sampling; expected value of information; expected value of perfect information; Health care; Health Care Rationing - economics; Health Services Research - economics; Humans; Insurance, Health, Reimbursement - economics; Internal Medicine; Medical research; Models, Economic; Models, Statistical; Planning; Policy Making; Public Health; Resource allocation; Technology Assessment, Biomedical - economics; Terminology; Uncertainty; Value; value of information; value of research; Value-Based Health Insurance - economics; Value-Based Purchasing - economics; value of research; expected value of perfect information; expected net benefit of sampling; value of information; expected value of information; decision making
• ISSN: 1098-3015; 1524-4733; 1524-4733
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jval.2020.01.001

Healthcare resource allocation decisions made under conditions of uncertainty may turn out to be suboptimal. In a resource constrained system in which there is a fixed budget, these suboptimal decisions will result in health loss. Consequently, there may be value in reducing uncertainty, through the collection of new evidence, to make better resource allocation decisions. This value can be quantified using a value of information (VOI) analysis. This report, from the ISPOR VOI Task Force, introduces VOI analysis, defines key concepts and terminology, and outlines the role of VOI for supporting decision making, including the steps involved in undertaking and interpreting VOI analyses. The report is specifically aimed at those tasked with making decisions about the adoption of healthcare or the funding of healthcare research. The report provides a number of recommendations for good practice when planning, undertaking, or reviewing the results of VOI analyses. •Decision uncertainty, although not relevant to a risk-neutral decision maker identifying the optimal choice in the current circumstances, is of interest for addressing the question of whether to collect additional information to better inform future decisions. As such, probability distributions should be assigned to parameters to characterize uncertainty in the current evidence base, with probabilistic analysis (PA) used to assess the uncertainty. Parameters excluded from the PA will be excluded from the analysis of uncertainty.•A value of information (VOI) analysis provides a formal assessment of the value of research, based on the extent to which the information generated through research would improve the expected payoffs associated with a decision by reducing the uncertainty surrounding it. This value can then be compared with the cost of acquiring the information to determine whether the research is potentially worthwhile and of value to undertake.•This report was written to provide decision makers who have been tasked with making decisions about the adoption of healthcare or the funding of healthcare research with an introduction to the concept of VOI analysis and to the decisions that can be supported by this type of analysis, including: (1) research prioritization, (2) efficient research design, (3) reimbursement, and (4) efficient decision making over the life cycle.•The report describes the process of VOI analysis, providing a top-level description of the methods and steps involved in undertaking and interpreting the results of such an analysis, from conceptualizing the decision problem to developing the decision model, parameterizing the model, running the probabilistic analysis, calculating the value of information (perfect, partial perfect, and sample), and determining the worth of research (expected net benefit of sampling).•This report provides 9 recommendations for good practice when planning, undertaking, or reviewing the results of VOI analyses with the aim to improve accessibility of VOI analysis for all stakeholders.