Value-based medicine and precision medicine in anaesthesia

Evidence-based medicine has become the part and parcel of the practice of medicine nowadays.1 It integrates patient preference with evidence and clinicians' experience, leading to the improvement in the length of life. 1 However, concern arises that it does not consider quality of life; hence, the concept of value-based medicine has become increasingly popular.Value-based medicine incorporates patient-perceived values that emphasise quality of life. 2 In addition, it also considers the cost of intervention, the goals of which is to improve the quality of health care and efficient use of resources.1 The concept was first introduced by Brown et al., 3 who defined it as "the practice of medicine incorporating the highest level of evidence-based data with the patient-perceived value conferred by health care interventions for the resources expended."4 Value-based medicine has many benefits, including lower costs and better outcomes for patients, better care efficiencies and controls, higher patient satisfaction, and eventually, better overall health for society.Patients' perceived value includes improvement in quality of life and/or length of life.3 Length of life can be measured objectively by various means; however, quality of life is much more difficult to measure and define.The focus should shift from quantity of life as measured by lifespan to quality of life as measured by health span.5 Financial value includes the medical costs, and the overall costs involved for society, such as caregiver and employment costs.Value is defined as the ratio of quality or outcomes over cost.