Local level economic evaluation: what is it, what is it’s value and is it sustainable?

Abstract: 

Barriers to the use of economic evaluation in local health service settings have been described at regular intervals and a recent Australian study found that there is no routine or consistent process through which local level evaluations are undertaken and used to inform decision-making. Working as academic economists embedded in a local health service over a two-year period, we undertook a range of local economic evaluations that we categorised as pre-, peri- and post-implementation evaluations. The different categories of economic evaluation raised different methodological challenges with respect to the conduct of locally relevant and useful comparisons of alternative intervention options, though a common general issue concerned the synthesis or joint interpretation of local health systems data and relevant published evidence. Expert elicitation methods were adopted to address this issue. The conducted economic evaluations also informed views and recommendations around the value of the defined evaluation categories with respect to informing decision-makers, and the resources required to support the sustainable application of economic evaluation in local health service settings.

Bio:

Jon Karnon is a Professor of Health Economics in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University. Jon has been developing methods and undertaking applied health economic evaluations in a wide range of areas since completed his Masters in Health Economics at the University of York in 1995. He was President of the Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand from 2014 to 2018 and sat on the Economic Sub-Committee of the Pharmaceuticals Benefits Advisory Committee from 2009 to 2022. His current focus is on the use of health economics by local health services. Funding by the MRFF (the embedded Economist) and NHMRC (Partnership Centre for Health System Sustainability) has supported deep engagement with the Southern Adelaide Local Health Service to inform how economic evaluation could and should be used by local health services.