Recent headlines have indicated NICE’s displeasure at how it has been asked to implement value based pricing. The stories are based on a paper, “Value based assessment of health technologies,” which was considered by the NICE board on 22 January. The paper proposed two main changes: a) an alternative approach to the Wider Social Benefit […]
Category: James Raftery’s NICE blogs
James Raftery: Value based pricing—terms of reference given by the Department of Health to NICE
On 20 June the Department of Health announced that: “Expert body given responsibility to look at the benefits medicines bring to wider society.” The terms of reference are not on either the Department of Health’s nor NICE’s websites, but I requested and got a copy. Here is what they say: “ The methods for value […]
James Raftery: Value based pricing—NICE to have key role
The response of the government to the House of Common’s health committee’s report on the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has provided clarification both on value based pricing and NICE. The committee’s report, published in January 2013, expressed concern that arrangements for value based pricing due to be introduced in January 2014 […]
James Raftery: Value based pricing—equality effects and ways forward
This blog reports on the third workshop held by the Department of Health on the methods being planned for value based pricing, due to start in January 2014. Previous workshops on wider social benefits (WSBs) and quality adjusted life year (QALY) weights were reported in previous blogs. This workshop extended the work reported previously, with […]
James Raftery: QALYs and value based pricing
This blog reports on a workshop held by the Department of Health on 28 November 2012 under Chatham House rules, that is the discussion can be reported but not attributed. This workshop aimed to provide a framework for “a part of the government exploring use of QALY weights” in value based pricing (VBP), specifically: Burden […]
James Raftery: Moving to value based pricing—adjusting costs
With the introduction of value based pricing scheduled to apply to new drugs when the current prescription pricing regulation system expires in 2014, the Department of Health has been working on the details of how it might apply. This blog reports on an invited workshop held by NICE on how the cost impact of health […]
James Raftery: Breast cancer screening review—would NICE have done it differently?
The publication of a summary of the benefits and harms of breast cancer screening in the Lancet, with the full report to follow, raises the question of whether referring this to NICE would have made any difference. The most obvious difference is that NICE would have gone on to appraise cost effectiveness. The final sentence […]
James Raftery: NICE, obesity, and bariatric surgery
The trends on obesity are shocking. UK data on the prevalence of obesity in adults and children are provided by the National Obesity Observatory, which also shows the social gradient in obesity. NICE’s guideline on obesity emphasised prevention, but recommended medical and surgical treatment. Bariatric surgery was an option for those with a body mass […]
James Raftery: Abaritarone for metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer—whose victory?
The decision by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in May, after a provisional refusal in February, to recommend abaritarone acetate for metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer in adult men whose disease has progressed on or after a docetaxel-based chemotherapy regimen has been hailed by most of the news media as a […]
James Raftery: The government response to the value based pricing consultation
The publication of the Government response to the value based pricing consultation provides some further insight into current thinking. 188 responses are summarised to the 20 questions posed in the consultation, along with the Department of Health response to each. Of the 20 questions, seven asked yes/no questions along the lines of do you agree that X […]