Summer school: Evaluating Future Health Technologies

Health technologies are intended to improve the quality of healthcare delivered through earlier diagnosis, less invasive treatment options, reduction in hospital stays, and decreasing rehabilitation duration.New medical technologies keep emerging, while healthcare costs continue to rise. Even if a new health technology may seem to be promising, only a limited number of them will, in the end, be used in clinical practice. To make informed decisions on the development of new technologies in healthcare, early health technology assessments are performed to evaluate the potential cost-effectiveness of such new devices or drugs. In this course, we will evaluate several newly developed technologies within departments at the University of Twente.

You will learn several techniques that can be used in early health technology assessments. These techniques include Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), Decision Modelling (using Markov models and Decision Trees) and Budget Impact Analysis. During the summer school, you will work on a value dossier and develop your own health economic model for a potential new application of a technology of your choice. At the end of the week, you will be able to present whether you think it is feasible to use these technologies for the new potential application. These are problems that need to be dealt with in healthcare. So come to CuriousU and learn how to Evaluate Future Health Technologies!

Testimonial: Heather from Canada

Course Topics

Health sciences and health systems

A good health system delivers quality services to all people, at the time and the place they need them. Health Sciences investigate how financing systems, organizational structures, administrative processes, and social factors affect access to healthcare, the quality and cost of healthcare, and ultimately our health and well-being. Its foundation can be found in management principles and in the social sciences. Health Sciences are essential to improve health and patient-centered care. During this course, you will get an overview of health sciences and health systems.

Health Technology assessment methology

There are several methods that can be applied to evaluate the potential effects and impact of a health technology. You will learn about and apply several of these methods during this course, including:

1) Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), a decision-making tool developed for complex problems with multiple criteria.

2) Decision tree, a graph that uses a branching method to illustrate every possible outcome of a decision.

3) Cost effectiveness analysis, an analysis that compares the relative costs and effectiveness (outcomes) of different technologies.

Health economic modelling

Health economic models are important tools used to inform healthcare decisions. These models are commonly used to compare new technologies to the current standard of care, often in terms of incremental costs and effects. This model-based approach can be especially useful when information is limited or when clinical trials are unfeasible. Another benefit of using a model-based approach is the ability to reflect the uncertainty in the available evidence. During this course, you will build your own health economic model and interpret the results to inform a healthcare decision.

Course aim

Learn all about new health technologies. Who developed them, how can they be helpful, and how can they be used?
Learn about how to evaluate these techniques concerning costs and consequences for the health care system.
Apply your knowledge about the technologies and evaluation techniques to assess the effects and or impacts.
Work in multidisciplinary teams.

Festival schedule

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