PhD defence M.C. (Marie) Haamers-Bennink

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation: 

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a malignant and incurable plasma cell disorder, with approximately 1,300 new diagnoses annually. 
Survival rates for MM have significantly improved over the past two decades, primarily due to various novel treatment 
approaches. This progress enables the implementation of treatments that provide the most value to the patient at the right 
moment, known as value based healthcare.
Part 1 of this thesis the value-based healthcare theory by Porter and Teisberg  was used to investigate aspects 
of MM treatment that can deliver value for patients at different moments in the care trajectory, including improvement of
quality of life, reducing treatment burden, effects on return to work, and optimizing end-of-life care.
Part 2 explores the requirements for collecting data in a disease-specific multiple myeloma registry to measure 
the outcomes of value-based care. These studies demonstrate the importance of establishing an (internationally) 
standardized set of outcome measures and methodologies to enable comparison of treatment results. 
Creating a registry to collect and share this data requires close national and international collaboration to 
overcome technical and legal challenges. Value-based healthcare, therefore, will contribute to improving 
treatment effectiveness and quality of life for individual patients, while also enhancing the quality, accessibility, 
and efficiency of healthcare for society as a whole.