Markov model with month-level cycle: A discounting multiplier generator

Markov model with month-level cycle: A discounting multiplier generator

When using Markov model to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of an intervention, will you set the cycle length to be at month level if the amount of time that individuals spend in a state before transition is less than one year? Do you find difficulty in discounting cost and QALY when cycle length is measured at month level? 

When Markov cycle length is less than one year, a major difficulty in time-preference discounting is that a cycle might not lie within one year, i.e. it might start in one year and end in the next year. In such case, the two portions of the cycle need to be discounted separately. Sometimes we might want to do it manually, but that will be time-consuming if the horizon of study is quite long.

This template will help to generate the discounting multipliers for cost and QALY in your Markov model whose cycle length is less than one year and is measured at month level. By using this template, you will save your time from doing time-preference discounting manually. After downloading the template, you could follow the steps below to generate the discounting multipliers for your model:

(1)   Key in the cycle length of your model into cell J1 (yellow-colored).

(2)   Key in the discounting rate in your model into cell J2 (green-colored).

(3)   The discounting multiplier for each cycle is generated in column F. Copy the discounting multipliers from cycle 1 to the last cycle of your study.

(4)   Paste the value of the discounting multipliers into your Markov model. 

To download the discounting multiplier generator template, click below