European healthcare economists get nasty about UK NICE and the QALY

Executive Summary

The quality-adjusted life years (QALY)-based approach used by NICE, the health technology appraisal institute for England and Wales, is heavily flawed and should not be adopted by other European member states, warns a European Commission-sponsored project¹. The four main assumptions underpinning the QALY about how patients value additional life gain and different health states are invalid, according to the survey. "Everything it is based upon is wrong," said Ariel Beresniak, leader of the project which reported its results at a symposium in Brussels on 25 January.