Building capacity in health economics
NDARC Staff
Chris Doran
Other Investigators
Rob Carter (Deakin University); Jeff Richardson (Monash University); Jan Barendregt, Theo Vos, Wayne Hall and Tim Coelli (University of Queesland); and David Evans (World Health Organisation)
Rationale
This proposal aims to build research capacity and methodological sophistication in economic evaluation and priority setting in health. An unprecedented critical mass of Australian experts in economic evaluation will be created who can then train a new generation of researchers.
The proposal covers the following topics:
- Assessing the impact of economic evaluation and priority setting methods on resource allocation in Australia to better understand the methodological, conceptual, practical and political barriers to its use (‘policy analysis’)
- Developing appropriate, valid and reliable utility measures that are culturally appropriate for Indigenous populations, children and carers (‘utility measures’)
- Developing methods and tools for measuring non-health sector costs and benefits from a social perspective (‘cost-benefit’)
- Refining methods for adjusting cost-effectiveness results to reflect other values such as equity, applicability and feasibility (‘second filter’)
- Exploring the usefulness and appropriateness of different modeling approaches used in economic evaluation (‘modelling’)
- Developing techniques to measure gains in overall health system efficiency from the adoption of cost-effective interventions (‘efficiency’)
Aims
The proposed outcomes are:
- An increased number of independent researchers with expertise in economic evaluation/priority setting who develop their own research programs
- Establish a critical mass of researchers who can improve the standard and acceptance of economic evaluation and priority setting methods in health, including priority setting for Indigenous Australians and other groups with special needs
- Value-adding to existing priority setting and economic evaluation projects by validating methods and developing new approaches
- Effective linkages between researchers and policy makers, advocates and other stakeholders to increase appreciation of the use of economic evaluation and priority setting in health policy and clinical practice
- Research transfer through workshops, presentations and peer-reviewed publications
Progress
The grant commenced April 2007 with the team meeting twice during 2007 to: refine the priority areas; discuss mentor arrangements and discuss recruitment strategies for team investigators; re-assess deliverables in accordance with budget cuts and progress sub-contracts between the collaborating universities. Professor Carter relocated from University of Melbourne to Deakin University during the first half of 2007. Due to administrative delays in arranging research sub-contracts, collaborative agreements were not signed until December 2007. Four post-graduate fellows have commenced work on the grant (three in Melbourne and one in Queensland). Team investigator development plans have been drafted with activity commencing. These work-plans were discussed at a workshop held in Sydney in May 2008. The scheduled November 2008 meeting has been postponed due to international travel and the team will meet again in February 2009.
Funding
National Health and Medical Research Council