Health systems around the world seek to address patients' unmet health needs for a range of acute and chronic diseases. Simultaneously, governments strive to keep healthcare spending sustainable, while providing equal access to high-quality care. This has fuelled debate around what constitutes a valuable healthcare intervention in a health system and the corollary consideration of what governments are willing to pay for a certain health intervention. Until recently, the value of information in general, and the value of diagnostic information (VODI) specifically, was not part of the discussion.However, investment in diagnostic information can be a key development as information may guide more effective and efficient healthcare and help maintain an affordable health system. This paper therefore explores ways to best define, evaluate, and reward the value created from diagnostics in healthcare and how to include these value considerations in decision-making processes for diagnostics. The authors ultimately call for a holistic VODI framework that accounts for the full range of potential benefits of diagnostic testing, beyond the traditional clinical and health economic domains, and that is essential to recognise, measure, and fully leverage the benefits of diagnostics for patients, health systems, and society.
Keywords: Access to healthcare; Decision-making; Diagnostics information; EU policy; Health economics; Healthcare services; Personalized medicine.
© 2019 S. Karger AG, Basel.