Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA)

Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) can improve decision-making in health care by engaging key stakeholders and by capturing and weighing criteria not found in traditional measures of value, for example novelty, severity of disease, quality of evidence, and family burden. By encouraging a comprehensive understanding of value, MCDA offers an opportunity to systematically weigh non-traditional aspects of value that fall outside traditional measures of value.​​​​

The illustrations below, from the University of Colorado Center for Pharmaceutical Value (pValue), show how the process works. pValue is a PhRMA Foundation-funded Center of Excellence in Value Assessment.

Researchers at pValue are testing the use of MCDA to better understand coverage and reimbursement decision making using value assessments on criteria that are important to multiple stakeholders. You can read pValue’s primer on the topic here.