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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Kevin Frick, PhD, Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Rm 606, Baltimore, MD 21205-1901, 410-614-4018, kfrick@jhsph.edu and Robert Massof, PhD, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, 550 Building, 6th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21205.

Objective: Willingness to pay (WTP) is used as a measure of value in public health cost-benefit analyses. This research assessed the convergent validity of elicited WTP for visual function improvement among low vision patients.

Methods: Consecutive new patients at the Lions Vision Research and Rehabilitation Center were asked their WTP for improvements in reading a watch, watching TV, driving, reading a newspaper, and performing all tasks similarly to a person without visual impairment. We implemented an “interviewer-read” payment card by reading all possible payment ranges before asking about WTP. Then, each patient was asked if she were willing to pay an amount in the lowest range, and she was asked increasing ranges until she definitely would not pay. Respondents were either asked single payments or paying similar amounts using 60 equal monthly payments. Bivariate associations with income, importance of each function, and demographics and health behaviors previously shown to be associated with WTP were tested to assess convergent validity.

Results: Higher income was most often significantly associated with higher WTP. Greater importance of the function and higher education were associated with a higher WTP to improve driving and each was associated with a higher WTP for improvement in another function. Nothing was strongly associated with WTP to improve reading a watch. The single payment method was sometimes associated with a higher WTP and had more consistent associations with predictors.

Conclusion: Low vision patients' WTP for some visual function improvements can be validly elicited using an single payment-based “interviewer-read” payment card.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Describe methods of eliciting willingness to pay, which is an input to economic evaluation;
• Articulate the conceptual difficulties of applying standard elicitation methods to a population with low vision;
• Discuss the empirical validity of low vision patients' responses to questions intended to elicit willingness to pay for improved visual function;
• List steps that can be taken to continue to improve willingness to pay elicitation methods for low vision patients.

Keywords: Economic Analysis, Vision Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation