OHE’s invitational lunchtime seminar held March 14th featured the research of Prof Paul Dolan of the LSE on using measures of subjective wellbeing – “happiness” – as the bases for health care resource allocation decisions.

OHE’s invitational lunchtime seminar held March 14th featured the research of Prof Paul Dolan of the LSE on using measures of subjective wellbeing – “happiness” – as the bases for health care resource allocation decisions.  Prof Dolan’s basic argument is that current measures of gains in health related quality of life, such as QALYs, are incomplete because they do not measure the end result that everyone desires, which is a feeling of wellbeing.  If that is indeed the goal of society, then money is best allocated to those services that provide the greatest amount of happiness.  (Prof Dolan has summarized his research in a recent OHE publication, available on this website.)

With respect to health care, this could mean spending relatively more on helping improve the mental states of individuals than on their physical status.  So, for example, a group of patients who find it difficult to cope with a chronic illness might be allocated relatively more resources, aimed specifically at improving a sense wellbeing, than another group of patients who are coping well.

Following Prof Dolan’s explanation of the concepts, participants engaged in a wide-ranging discussion of the implications of increasing the emphasis on happiness measurement.   Most agreed that happiness measurement clearly could apply to allocating resources across sectors – e.g. housing v. social care v. health care — and also be useful in evaluating individual health technologies or treatments.

Download Dolan, P. (2011) Using happiness to value health. London: Office of Health Economics.