Based upon this approach, the ACC/AHA categorized interventions into three categories: High value: ICER < US$50,000/QALY; Intermediate value: ICER US$50,000–150,000/QALY; Low value: ICER >US$150,000/QALY.

How is ICER threshold calculated?

An ICER is calculated by dividing the difference in total costs (incremental cost) by the difference in the chosen measure of health outcome or effect (incremental effect) to provide a ratio of ‘extra cost per extra unit of health effect’ – for the more expensive therapy vs the alternative.

Is a high or low ICER better?

ICERs are More Difficult to Interpret In evaluations of three or more strategies, the decision rule is unintuitive: the most cost-effective strategy is that with the highest ICER that lies below the threshold.