PECUNIA RUM Instrument

The PECUNIA Resource Use Measurement (PECUNIA RUM) Instrument is a Microsoft Word©-based internationally standardised, harmonised and validated, generic, self-reported RUM instrument that measures resource use in all relevant sectors for costing from a societal perspective in the adult population: health and social care, education, (criminal) justice, productivity losses, and informal care. It is consistent with the harmonised PECUNIA Costing Concept (PECUNIA Care Atom, PECUNIA Service Lists, PECUNIA Coding System) and therefore with other PECUNIA Costing Tools (PECUNIA RUC Templates, PECUNIA RUC Compendium) to achieve cross-country and cross-sectoral comparability by referring to activity-based rather than linguistic equivalence of services. The PECUNIA RUM was developed as a 37-page pen-and-paper questionnaire in English by the scientific partners of the PECUNIA Consortium between mid-2019 and June 2021. It has a modular structure of 9 sections covering questions related to

  • Place of living and overnight stays (Section A)
  • Non-residential health and social care (Section B)
  • Medication (Section C)
  • Unpaid help (informal care) (Section D)
  • Education (Section E)
  • Employment and productivity (Section F)
  • Safety and justice system (Section G)
  • Out-of-pocket and other expenses (Section H)
  • Final remarks (Section I).

While Sections A, B, C, D, E, G, H were all developed newly, the section on ’Employment and productivity’ (Section F, the so called IPCQ PECUNIA) is based on the existing IPCQ instrument. The different modules have been harmonised with each other alongside the following steps: a comprehensive scoping review to identify existing RUM recommendations, a focus group of health economists to provide feedback on the first draft, an initial wording review, a professional English language editing, piloting in (online) interviews with former mental health care users and carers, and a formal translatability assessment. Translations are available in Dutch and German, and additional language versions (e.g. Hungarian) are under way.

Electronic version of the PECUNIA RUM is planned to be made feasible in the future.

Access/permission

To obtain permissions to use the PECUNIA RUM, you will first need to complete and submit a copyright licence application.

Please complete the online application form via Oxford University Innovation’s licensing portal.

Anyone wishing to use the instrument for non-commercial research, healthcare and academic teaching activities can do so free-of-charge but must apply for a licence.
Fees for commercial use may be applicable and are subject to details provided within your licence application or follow-up communications.

Once your licence is granted, you will receive the PECUNIA RUM and any support documents you requested via email.

If you have any licensing queries, please contact Oxford University Innovation’s Clinical Outcomes team via email at healthoutcomes@innovation.ox.ac.uk.
For questions about using the PECUNIA RUM, please contact us via email at pecunia@meduniwien.ac.at.

User conditions

The use of the PECUNIA RUM is free for non-commercial purposes and is conditional upon citation of the PECUNIA RUM in any resulting work/publication as follows: