The award was granted during the closing ceremony of the annual meeting of the Dutch Society for Rheumatology and was accompanied by a check worth €750.

Classically, the effects on medical interventions on health of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases are assessed by patient reported outcomes that address disease specific health domains. A 'Willingness To Pay' (WTP) is an alternative approach to value the overall improvement of health due to the treatment.

In a hypothetical situation where patients should contribute financially to continue treatment, 74% of patients were willing to contribute. The majority of the remainder patients objected to the idea of co-payments.

The WTP as well as amount willing to pay were related to the health benefits patients had experienced. As such, a WTP approach offers an interesting valuable alternative approach to value health benefits.

Casper Webers is a 2nd years PhD candidate at the department of Rheumatology and his research is embedded in the research line Functioning & Rehabilitation.