New update of official guide to the methods of economic evaluation for France recommends use of EQ-5D-5L to derive a utility score

The French National Authority for Health (Haute Autorité de Santé or HAS) has recently published its first update of its official methodological guide for economic evaluation (Choix méthodologiques pour l’évaluation économique à la HAS). One of the significant changes to the methods guide is the recommendation that the EQ-5D-5L (EQ-5D-5L questionnaire and French EQ-5D-5L value set) should be the preferred measure used to derive utility values for use in health technology appraisals. This is a shift from the previous French methods guideline (published in 2012), which recommended use of the original EQ-5D[-3L] or the Health Utilities Index.

Bernhard Slaap, Executive Director of the EuroQol Group, commented: “We are pleased to see that this long-awaited update of the French methods guidelines incorporates the EQ-5D-5L. The EQ-5D-5L was developed to further improve the EQ-5D-3L’s sensitivity and to provide respondents with a wider range of options for patients to describe their health, while maintaining the ease of use of the original instrument.”

The Choix méthodologiques pour l’évaluation économique à la HAS guideline can be downloaded from the HAS website.