Validation of the PECUNIA reference unit costs templates in Spain: a useful tool for multi-national economic evaluations of health technologies

Abstract Background The PECUNIA Project was funded by the H2020 programme in which 10 partners from six countries participated. The aim was to develop standardized, harmonized and validated methods and tools to calculate costs in different sectors (such as health and social care, education among oth...

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Main Authors: Lidia García-Pérez, Renata Linertová, Aránzazu Hernández-Yumar, Cristina Valcárcel-Nazco, Jhoner Perdomo-Vielma, Pedro Serrano-Aguilar, Mencia R. Gutierrez-Colosia, Luis Salvador-Carulla, Enrique Fernández-Vega, Susanne Mayer, Judit Simon, the PECUNIA Group
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2024-12-01
Series:Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12962-024-00601-9
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author Lidia García-Pérez
Renata Linertová
Aránzazu Hernández-Yumar
Cristina Valcárcel-Nazco
Jhoner Perdomo-Vielma
Pedro Serrano-Aguilar
Mencia R. Gutierrez-Colosia
Luis Salvador-Carulla
Enrique Fernández-Vega
Susanne Mayer
Judit Simon
the PECUNIA Group
author_facet Lidia García-Pérez
Renata Linertová
Aránzazu Hernández-Yumar
Cristina Valcárcel-Nazco
Jhoner Perdomo-Vielma
Pedro Serrano-Aguilar
Mencia R. Gutierrez-Colosia
Luis Salvador-Carulla
Enrique Fernández-Vega
Susanne Mayer
Judit Simon
the PECUNIA Group
author_sort Lidia García-Pérez
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background The PECUNIA Project was funded by the H2020 programme in which 10 partners from six countries participated. The aim was to develop standardized, harmonized and validated methods and tools to calculate costs in different sectors (such as health and social care, education among others), with the purpose of facilitating comparability of economic evaluations of health technologies across European countries. In this paper we report the first validation of the developed reference unit cost templates in Spain. Methods The evaluation of the PECUNIA Reference Unit Cost (RUC) Templates involved usability, transferability and feasibility assessment. Applicability tests were performed to estimate the cost of a selection of 15 resource items by means of the RUC templates in Spain and in four Spanish regions. External validation involved comparison with existing unit costs. Results It was possible to estimate the cost of five services (dental care and general practitioner in the Canary Islands, general practitioner in Spain [tariffs], health-related day care centre and education services provided in a special education school in the Basque Country), car vandalism as an example of potential health-related consequences, and informal care in Spain. The templates were feasible although data completeness depended on the type of data needed to estimate the costs. The templates are transferable across countries although comparability depends on the services available in each jurisdiction. Conclusions The PECUNIA RUC Templates are free and feasible tools to estimate comparable reference unit costs across countries. Although more validation exercises are needed, they seem useful tools to perform robust multi-national economic evaluations and increase the transferability of cost-effectiveness studies of health technologies in Europe. However, they cannot compensate for the lack of data across jurisdictions.
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spelling doaj-art-3ad6fd6f0c874cb3b46dbb92e736f0602025-08-20T02:39:40ZengBMCCost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation1478-75472024-12-0122111210.1186/s12962-024-00601-9Validation of the PECUNIA reference unit costs templates in Spain: a useful tool for multi-national economic evaluations of health technologiesLidia García-Pérez0Renata Linertová1Aránzazu Hernández-Yumar2Cristina Valcárcel-Nazco3Jhoner Perdomo-Vielma4Pedro Serrano-Aguilar5Mencia R. Gutierrez-Colosia6Luis Salvador-Carulla7Enrique Fernández-Vega8Susanne Mayer9Judit Simon10the PECUNIA GroupServicio de Evaluación, Servicio Canario de la Salud (SESCS)Servicio de Evaluación, Servicio Canario de la Salud (SESCS)Servicio de Evaluación, Servicio Canario de la Salud (SESCS)Servicio de Evaluación, Servicio Canario de la Salud (SESCS)Servicio de Evaluación, Servicio Canario de la Salud (SESCS)Servicio de Evaluación, Servicio Canario de la Salud (SESCS)Department of Psychology, Universidad Loyola AndalucíaHealth Research Institute, Faculty of Health, University of CanberraExpert in Qualitative ResearchDepartment of Health Economics, Center for Public Health, Medical University of ViennaDepartment of Health Economics, Center for Public Health, Medical University of ViennaAbstract Background The PECUNIA Project was funded by the H2020 programme in which 10 partners from six countries participated. The aim was to develop standardized, harmonized and validated methods and tools to calculate costs in different sectors (such as health and social care, education among others), with the purpose of facilitating comparability of economic evaluations of health technologies across European countries. In this paper we report the first validation of the developed reference unit cost templates in Spain. Methods The evaluation of the PECUNIA Reference Unit Cost (RUC) Templates involved usability, transferability and feasibility assessment. Applicability tests were performed to estimate the cost of a selection of 15 resource items by means of the RUC templates in Spain and in four Spanish regions. External validation involved comparison with existing unit costs. Results It was possible to estimate the cost of five services (dental care and general practitioner in the Canary Islands, general practitioner in Spain [tariffs], health-related day care centre and education services provided in a special education school in the Basque Country), car vandalism as an example of potential health-related consequences, and informal care in Spain. The templates were feasible although data completeness depended on the type of data needed to estimate the costs. The templates are transferable across countries although comparability depends on the services available in each jurisdiction. Conclusions The PECUNIA RUC Templates are free and feasible tools to estimate comparable reference unit costs across countries. Although more validation exercises are needed, they seem useful tools to perform robust multi-national economic evaluations and increase the transferability of cost-effectiveness studies of health technologies in Europe. However, they cannot compensate for the lack of data across jurisdictions.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12962-024-00601-9CostingEconomic evaluationEuropeServicesSocietal perspectiveSpain
spellingShingle Lidia García-Pérez
Renata Linertová
Aránzazu Hernández-Yumar
Cristina Valcárcel-Nazco
Jhoner Perdomo-Vielma
Pedro Serrano-Aguilar
Mencia R. Gutierrez-Colosia
Luis Salvador-Carulla
Enrique Fernández-Vega
Susanne Mayer
Judit Simon
the PECUNIA Group
Validation of the PECUNIA reference unit costs templates in Spain: a useful tool for multi-national economic evaluations of health technologies
Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation
Costing
Economic evaluation
Europe
Services
Societal perspective
Spain
title Validation of the PECUNIA reference unit costs templates in Spain: a useful tool for multi-national economic evaluations of health technologies
title_full Validation of the PECUNIA reference unit costs templates in Spain: a useful tool for multi-national economic evaluations of health technologies
title_fullStr Validation of the PECUNIA reference unit costs templates in Spain: a useful tool for multi-national economic evaluations of health technologies
title_full_unstemmed Validation of the PECUNIA reference unit costs templates in Spain: a useful tool for multi-national economic evaluations of health technologies
title_short Validation of the PECUNIA reference unit costs templates in Spain: a useful tool for multi-national economic evaluations of health technologies
title_sort validation of the pecunia reference unit costs templates in spain a useful tool for multi national economic evaluations of health technologies
topic Costing
Economic evaluation
Europe
Services
Societal perspective
Spain
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12962-024-00601-9
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