Recognizing diversity in public preferences: The use of preference sub‐groups in cost‐effectiveness analysis

Public preferences are typically incorporated into cost-effectiveness analyses (CEA) on the basis of the average health state utilities of a sample of individuals drawn from the general public. The cost-effectiveness of a programme is then assessed on an 'all-or-nothing' basis: the programme is declared either cost-effective or not for all patients in clinically homogeneous sub-groups. However, this approach fails to recognize variability …