TY - JOUR
T1 - The Development of a New Approach for the Harmonized Multi-Sectoral and Multi-Country Cost Valuation of Services
T2 - The PECUNIA Reference Unit Cost (RUC) Templates
AU - Mayer, Susanne
AU - Berger, Michael
AU - Peric, Natasa
AU - Fischer, Claudia
AU - Konnopka, Alexander
AU - Brodszky, Valentin
AU - Evers, Silvia M. A. A.
AU - Hakkaart-van Roijen, Leona
AU - Colosia, Mencia Ruiz Guiterrez
AU - Salvador-Carulla, Luis
AU - Park, A-La
AU - Thorn, Joanna
AU - Garcia-Perez, Lidia
AU - Simon, Judit
AU - PECUNIA Group
PY - 2024/11
Y1 - 2024/11
N2 - BackgroundIncreasing healthcare costs require evidence-based resource use allocation for which assessing costs rigorously and comparably is crucial. Harmonized cross-country costing methods for evaluating interventions from a societal perspective are lacking. This study presents the development process and content of the service costing templates developed as part of the European project PECUNIA.MethodsThe six developmental steps towards technological readiness of the templates included (1) a common conceptual costing framework and review of methodological costing issues, (2) harmonization strategy formulation, (3) proof-of-concept with expert feedback, (4) piloting, (5) validation, and (6) demonstration in six European countries.ResultsThe PECUNIA Reference Unit Cost (RUC) Templates for service costing are three new self-completion tools to be used with secondary or primary data for top-down micro-costing or top-down gross-costing approaches. Complementary data collection and unit cost aggregation/weighting templates are available. The applications leading to the final versions including (4) piloting through calculation of 15-unit costs, (5) validation within a Health Technology Assessment framework, and (6) RUC calculations mostly based on secondary data demonstrated the templates' general feasibility, with feedback for improved usability incorporated and a supplementary user guide developed.ConclusionThe validated PECUNIA RUC Templates for multi-sectoral and multi-country service costing allow for harmonized RUC development while incorporating flexibility and transparency in the choice of costing approaches, data sources and magnitude of remaining heterogeneity. The templates are expected to significantly improve the quality, comparability and availability of unit costs for economic evaluations, and promote the transferability of service cost information across Europe.
AB - BackgroundIncreasing healthcare costs require evidence-based resource use allocation for which assessing costs rigorously and comparably is crucial. Harmonized cross-country costing methods for evaluating interventions from a societal perspective are lacking. This study presents the development process and content of the service costing templates developed as part of the European project PECUNIA.MethodsThe six developmental steps towards technological readiness of the templates included (1) a common conceptual costing framework and review of methodological costing issues, (2) harmonization strategy formulation, (3) proof-of-concept with expert feedback, (4) piloting, (5) validation, and (6) demonstration in six European countries.ResultsThe PECUNIA Reference Unit Cost (RUC) Templates for service costing are three new self-completion tools to be used with secondary or primary data for top-down micro-costing or top-down gross-costing approaches. Complementary data collection and unit cost aggregation/weighting templates are available. The applications leading to the final versions including (4) piloting through calculation of 15-unit costs, (5) validation within a Health Technology Assessment framework, and (6) RUC calculations mostly based on secondary data demonstrated the templates' general feasibility, with feedback for improved usability incorporated and a supplementary user guide developed.ConclusionThe validated PECUNIA RUC Templates for multi-sectoral and multi-country service costing allow for harmonized RUC development while incorporating flexibility and transparency in the choice of costing approaches, data sources and magnitude of remaining heterogeneity. The templates are expected to significantly improve the quality, comparability and availability of unit costs for economic evaluations, and promote the transferability of service cost information across Europe.
KW - ECONOMIC-EVALUATION
U2 - 10.1007/s40258-024-00905-0
DO - 10.1007/s40258-024-00905-0
M3 - Article
SN - 1175-5652
VL - 22
SP - 783
EP - 796
JO - Applied Health Economics and Health Policy
JF - Applied Health Economics and Health Policy
IS - 6
ER -