Health-related quality of life measurement for evaluation research and policy analysis.

The present article describes a unit of health status, the Well-Year, which expresses the output of health programs in terms of the number of years and the health-related quality of life produced by a treatment or program. Dividing the cost of the program by the number of Well-Years that it produces gives the cost-utility of the program. This cost-utility ratio can be used in a general health policy model to compare the efficiency of different programs or to assess the relative contribution of different programs and providers in the health care system. A comprehensive standardized measure of health status has many advantages for health planning, decision analysis, and program evaluation. An example demonstrates how the relative production of WellYears by psychologists might be compared to the contribution of other health care services.