TY - JOUR
T1 - In Search for Comparability
T2 - The PECUNIA Reference Unit Costs for Health and Social Care Services in Europe
AU - Mayer, Susanne
AU - Berger, Michael
AU - Konnopka, Alexander
AU - Brodszky, Valentin
AU - Evers, Silvia M A A
AU - Hakkaart-van Roijen, Leona
AU - Guitérrez-Colosia, Mencia R
AU - Salvador-Carulla, Luis
AU - Park, A-La
AU - Hollingworth, William
AU - García-Pérez, Lidia
AU - Simon, Judit
AU - On Behalf Of The Pecunia Group, null
PY - 2022/3/16
Y1 - 2022/3/16
N2 - Improving the efficiency of mental healthcare service delivery by learning from international best-practice examples requires valid data, including robust unit costs, which currently often lack cross-country comparability. The European ProgrammE in Costing, resource use measurement and outcome valuation for Use in multi-sectoral National and International health economic evaluAtions (PECUNIA) aimed to harmonize the international unit cost development. This article presents the methodology and set of 36 externally validated, standardized reference unit costs (RUCs) for five health and social care services (general practitioner, dentist, help-line, day-care center, nursing home) in Austria, England, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, and Spain based on unambiguous service definitions using the extended DESDE PECUNIA coding framework. The resulting PECUNIA RUCs are largely comparable across countries, with any causes for deviations (e.g., country-specific scope of services) transparently documented. Even under standardized methods, notable limitations due to data-driven divergences in key costing parameters remain. Increased cross-country comparability by adopting a uniform methodology and definitions can advance the quality of evidence-based policy guidance derived from health economic evaluations. The PECUNIA RUCs are available free of charge and aim to significantly improve the quality and feasibility of future economic evaluations and their transferability across mental health systems.
AB - Improving the efficiency of mental healthcare service delivery by learning from international best-practice examples requires valid data, including robust unit costs, which currently often lack cross-country comparability. The European ProgrammE in Costing, resource use measurement and outcome valuation for Use in multi-sectoral National and International health economic evaluAtions (PECUNIA) aimed to harmonize the international unit cost development. This article presents the methodology and set of 36 externally validated, standardized reference unit costs (RUCs) for five health and social care services (general practitioner, dentist, help-line, day-care center, nursing home) in Austria, England, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, and Spain based on unambiguous service definitions using the extended DESDE PECUNIA coding framework. The resulting PECUNIA RUCs are largely comparable across countries, with any causes for deviations (e.g., country-specific scope of services) transparently documented. Even under standardized methods, notable limitations due to data-driven divergences in key costing parameters remain. Increased cross-country comparability by adopting a uniform methodology and definitions can advance the quality of evidence-based policy guidance derived from health economic evaluations. The PECUNIA RUCs are available free of charge and aim to significantly improve the quality and feasibility of future economic evaluations and their transferability across mental health systems.
KW - CRISIS
KW - ECONOMIC-EVALUATION
KW - MENTAL-HEALTH
KW - PECUNIA
KW - STANDARD COSTS
KW - SYSTEMS
KW - TIME
KW - economic evaluation
KW - health care
KW - mental health
KW - reference cost
KW - service
KW - social care
KW - societal perspective
KW - unit cost
KW - valuation
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph19063500
DO - 10.3390/ijerph19063500
M3 - Article
C2 - 35329189
SN - 1660-4601
VL - 19
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 6
M1 - 3500
ER -