New ISPOR Task Force Report on Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis

Professor Nancy Devlin co-chaired the ISPOR task force on uses of MCDA in health care decision making. The first report from the task force has just been published in Value in Health.

Professor Nancy Devlin, OHE’s Director of Research, co-chaired the ISPOR task force on uses of multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) in health care decision making. The first report from the task force, “Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis for Health Care Decision Making—An Introduction: Report 1 of the ISPOR MCDA Emerging Good Practices Task Force” has just been published in Value in Health.

See the corresponding press release below:

Health care decisions are complex and can require the assessment of multiple, often conflicting, objectives. As a result, decision makers—whether they are individuals or committees—often have difficulty processing and systematically evaluating relevant information that could inform those decisions.

A set of techniques known under the collective heading multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA), can be useful to evaluate multiple variables (i.e., criteria) and improve the quality of decision making. MCDA has been widely used in other sectors and is now being increasingly applied in health care. However, while there are many MCDA methods available, little guidance exists for how to choose the right technique for a particular problem. To fill this knowledge gap, ISPOR established its Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis in Health Care Decision Making Emerging Good Practices Task Force in 2014.

This first MCDA Task Force Report provides readers with an introduction that: 1) defines MCDA, 2) offers examples of its use in different kinds of health care decision making, 3) provides an overview of the principal methods of MCDA, and 4) describes the key steps involved.

A second Task Force Report is in development and is scheduled for publication in the March/April 2016 issue of Value in Health. Report 2 will build on the first report by providing recommendations on Emerging Good Practices for conducting MCDA.

Access the press release here.