26 December 2018 - Patient preferences should be a central consideration in healthcare decision making. 

However, stories of patients challenging regulatory and reimbursement decisions has led to questions on whether patient voices are being considered sufficiently during those decision making processes. This has led some to argue that it is necessary to quantify patient preferences before they can be adequately considered.

This study considers the lessons from the use of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) for efforts to quantify patient preferences. It defines MCDA and summarises the benefits it can provide to decision makers, identifies examples of MCDAs that have involved patients, and summarises good practice guidelines as they relate to quantifying patient preferences.

Read International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care article