NewsIn March, Brunel’s Health Economics Research Group (HERG) hosted an international two-day workshop on ‘State of the Art in Assessing Research Impact’. The workshop built on HERG’s leadership in assessing research impact, especially the ‘Payback’ Framework pioneered by Professor Martin Buxton and Professor Stephen Hanney in the 1990s to assess the outcomes of healthcare research. This approach gauges the contribution of research to knowledge production, capacity building, informing policy or product development, and broader social and economic benefits.
Participants included leading researchers from the USA, The Netherlands, Spain, and the UK, policymakers from the UK research councils and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Brunel’s Research Support and Development Office, and Brunel’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) implementation team. The event was designed to draw on diverse disciplinary perspectives including healthcare research, science and technology studies, sociology, social policy, political science, philosophy, and research evaluation.
The workshop began by exploring recent ‘Payback’ studies of the impact of healthcare research in Ireland and in the US National Institutes of Health, and the application of the ‘Payback’ approach to assessing the impact of social science research.
Following that a new ‘productive interactions’ concept was discussed, focusing on reciprocal engagement between researchers and key stakeholders. Other papers dealt with approaches to assessing the impact of environmental research on policy, the use of
ex ante peer review of grant proposals to assess potential research impact, and perspectives on assessing impact in the forthcoming REF.
Assessing research impact is a hot topic, and so lively discussion ensued. The role of impact assessment in the REF dominated the final discussion, with Professor John Brewer (Aberdeen University and President of the British Sociological Association) viewing this as ‘a sheep in wolves clothing’ while Professor Ben Martin (Science and Technology Policy Research University, University of Sussex) was concerned that ‘Payback’ assessments are a craft skill and assessing impact for REF will shift to ‘mass production’ and so lose sophistication. The key workshop outcome was that HERG’s ‘Payback’ approach was endorsed as state of the art, but with scope to continue evolving.
The workshop papers will be published as a special edition of the journal
Research Evaluation in September 2011, which Dr Claire Donovan (HERG) will guest edit.
For more information contact: claire.donovan@brunel.ac.uk
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New report helps inform decisions about how science should be funded
Clinical research has greater societal impact over a 15–20 year timescale, while basic research has greater academic impact, according to a new study from the
Health Economics Research Group (HERG) and RAND Europe.
Project Retrosight was a multinational, four-year study that investigated the translation of basic biomedical and clinical cardiovascular and stroke research, and its impact on future work, policy, products and healthcare. The study was based on a rich source of material taken from 29 carefully selected case studies of grants for research conducted in these areas that were awarded 15-20 years ago.
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HERG Virtual Research Seminar
The HERG Virtual Research Seminar (HERG VRS) was successfully launched on 28th January 2011 by the Health Economics Research Group (HERG) at Brunel University. This web-based initiative was developed and led by PhD students and post docs at HERG to provide low-cost opportunities for doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in health economics to discuss work in progress. It has been received with much encouragement from the wider health economic community and has been linked into the Higher Education Authority Economics Network. The first HERG VRS was well-attended by researchers from Universities of Nottingham, Southampton, and London and we have had very positive feedback from participants: “….(I) found the seminar extremely useful and well run. In the future I would like to present my work” (participant at the HERG VRS seminar)” For further information, visit: www.brunel.ac.uk/385/HERG%20VRS/Flyer5.pdf * * *
Congratulations to Hema Mistry who has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
*** Vice Chancellor's awards for PhDs - the Walduck Prize for Research Impact.
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Professor Martin Buxton is quoted, and the Report that he and Dr Steve Hanney produced, with RAND and OHE, entitled 'Medical Research: What's it worth' is referred to favourably in this week's Nature. The editorial describes the Report as one of "the few studies that have made a genuine attempt objectively to assess the economic outcomes of research". The news feature and editorial support Martin Buxton's quoted view that too little money has been invested in understanding and estimating the economic returns to medical research in particular, and science in general, "and that too much of what has been done, has been done as a process of advocacy."
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Martin Buxton wins Lifetime Achievement Award
Martin Buxton, Professor of Health Economics and founder of Brunel’s Health Economics Research Group (HERG), has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his significant and lasting contribution towards creating better health outcomes for people in the UK and across the world.
The 2010 Avedis Donabedian Outcomes Research Lifetime Achievement Award will be bestowed on Professor Buxton by ISPOR (International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research), a highly respected global organisation that promotes health economics and the evaluation of how health care interventions affect patient wellbeing. The Donabedian Award is bestowed on those whose research has shown demonstrable value to health outcomes, rather than purely academic achievement. Professor Buxton, who is the eighth person to receive the prestigious award and only the second UK academic to do so, has been involved in research on the economics of health and medical care for over 35 years. His aim has always been to undertake policy-relevant research that is not just of academic interest but which will have a real impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of the healthcare system. He has been involved in a large number of studies including international drug trials, evaluations of national programmes for heart and liver transplantation, screening for breast cancer and abdominal aortic aneurysms, assessments of the impact of medical audit and other organisational changes. He has also been a member of the Appraisal Committee of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and has advised most of the major pharmaceutical companies. HERG, which Professor Buxton founded at Brunel over 20 years ago, has a well-established international reputation in health economics research. In the 2008 RAE, 95% of HERG’s research activity was of an international standard, and 15% world-class. These impressive results helped elevate the HERG team and our related health research areas to 7th in the UK rankings for Health Services Research. Speaking about receiving the award, Professor Buxton said: “I am naturally delighted and honoured to receive this international recognition of my work, even if I fear that it might imply that they are not expecting much more of use from me. Let’s hope I can continue to impress them for a while longer!” Professor Buxton will receive his award at the ISPOR Fifteenth Annual International Meeting on 18 May 2010 in Atlanta, US. * * *
News and Announcements
HERG's research on, and expertise in, measuring the impact of health research has been receiving a lot of international interest recently. Professor Martin Buxton was invited to be a member of an international expert panel set up by the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences which recently published its report entitled: Making an Impact: A Preferred Framework and Indicators to Measure Returns on Investment in Health Research: http://www.cahs-acss.ca/e/assessments/completedprojects.php
A commentary published in March, in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, clearly demonstrates the importance of the work from HERG as foundations for this Report: http://www.cahs-acss.ca/e/pdfs/ROI_CMAJ.pdf
Also in March a special supplement to the Spanish medical journal Medicina Clinica includes three papers from HERG - two, in Spanish, one summarising empirical research studies applying the Buxton-Hanney payback framework and the other showing how it can be elaborated and used to assess the impact of research on health policy.
The third paper, in English, looks at the role of national general medical journals in informing clinical practice. http://www.elsevier.es/revistas/ctl_servlet?_f=7010&sumarioid=13007295
One of the most recent applications of the Buxton-Hanney Framework was an application to the first ten years of the NHS HTA Programme. A summary of this is now published in the International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3261908&fulltextType=RA&fileld=S0266462309090011
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The Research Assessment Exercise, published on 18th December 2008, has recognised the quality of HERG's research. The 2008 RAE results rated 95% of HERG's research activity as of international standard in terms of originality, significance and rigour, and of that 15% was rated as world-leading. This rating was based on our submitting all staff who were eligible according to RAE rules. Summarising this profile as a 'Grade Point Average' puts HERG at 7th place in the national ranking for the Health Services Research unit of assessment. This quality profile also gave HERG the highest grade point average in Brunel, despite the fact that Brunel overall had an excellent performance in 2008, having submitted a vastly increased proportion of potentially eligible staff (87%) with over 2/3 of their research activity rated as of international quality.
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This affirms publicly that HERG is firmly placed amongst the best research groups nationally and internationally and will provide a springboard to further expansion and to even greater research heights.
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Professor Martin Buxton and colleagues launched a report estimating the considerable economic benefits from UK medical research at the Wellcome Trust on Thursday 20 Nov. The report was commissioned by the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the Academy of Medical Sciences and was conducted by a team from the Health Economics Research Group (Brunel University), the Office of Health Economics and RAND Europe.
The full report, entitled, Medical Research: What's it worth? Estimating the economic benefits from medical research in the UK, is available here
Conferences
In November 2009 Steve Hanney gave an invited presentation entitled, Estimating the Economic Benefits from Medical Research in the UK, to a meeting of the European Commission’s RTD Evaluation Network (EUevalnet). It was held at the World Trade Centre, Stockholm, Sweden.
In September 2009, Hema Mistry gave an invited presentation on the TelePaed project work at the Tele-cardiology: Bringing cardiology closer to the patient one-day conference organised by the Telemedicine and e-Health section at the Royal Society of Medicine. The presentation was titled "The economic evaluation of the role of telemedicine in fetal cardiology".
Timea Marianna Helter presented a paper at the III. National Conference of Hungarian Health Economics Society in Budapest, Hungary (July 2009), entitled "Is there life beyond QALYs? - A public health approach".
Marta Trapero-Bertran presented a paper at the XIII. Congress of Public Health and Health Administration Spanish Society (SESPAS) in Seville, Spain (March 2009), entitled ‘Economic Evaluation of smoking cessation interventions. External Effects and social costs’.
Melina Dritsaki and Stephen Morris presented a paper at the Health Economists' Study Group meeting in Manchester (Jan 09) entitled "The impact of mental well-being on obesity in Great Britain'.
Latest Publications
Fox-Rushby JA, Griffith GL, Ross JR, Peacock JL, Farquhar-Smith P,
Jones T, Phillips TJC, Branford RA, Bruni C, Coyle D, Williams JE (Pending) The efficacy and cost-effectiveness of different treatment pathways for neuropathic pain: systematic review and economic modelling of post-herpetic neuralgia and painful diabetic neuropathy. Health Technology Assessment
Dyer M, Goldsmith K, Sharples L,
Buxton M (2010) A review of health utilities using the EQ-5D in studies of cardiovascular disease, Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, vol 8, no 13 http://www.hqlo.com/content/8/1/13
Hanney SR, González-Block MA (2009) Evidence-informed health policy: are we beginning to get there at last? Health Research Policy and Systems, vol 7, no 30
Mistry H (2009) Calculating your costs: principles of economic evaluations. Cardiology Management Vol 3, No 1, p18-9
Kitchener HC, Almonte M, Thomson C, Wheeler P, Sargent A,
Stoykova B, Gilham C, Baysson H, Roberts C,
Dowie R, Desai M, Mather J, Bailey A, Turner A, Moss S, Peto J (2009) HPV testing in combination with liquid-based cytology in primary cervical screening (ARTISTIC): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Oncology, 2009 Jul;10(7):672-82
Mistry H, Dowie R, Franklin RCG and Jani BR (2009) Costs of neonatal care for low birthweight babies in English hospitals. Acta Paediatrica, DOI:10.1111/j.1651-2227.2009.01316.x Dowie R, Mistry H, Rigby M, Young TA, Weatherburn G, Rowlinson G and Franklin RCG (2009) A paediatric telecardiology service for district hospitals in south-east England: an observational study. Archives of Disease in Childhood, Vol 94, No 4, p273-7
Trapero-Bertran M (2009) Economic Evaluation of Smoking Cessation Interventions: Have we overlooked something? Arch Bronconeumol. (forthcoming)
Appleby J, Devlin N, Parkin D,
Buxton M, Chalkidou K (2009) Searcing for cost effectiveness thresholds in the NHS, Health Policy
Raftery J,
Hanney S, Green C,
Buxton M (2009) Assessing the impact of England's National Health Service R&D Health Technology Assessment program using the "payback" approach, International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, vol 25, no 1, pp 1-5
Steuten L , Vallejo-Torres L, Bastide P,
Buxton M (2009) Analysing uncertainty around costs of innovative medical technologies: The case of fibrin sealant (QUIXIL) for total knee replacement, Health Policy, vol 89 (1), pp 46-57
Dowie R, Mistry H, Young T, Franklin RCG and Gardiner HM (2008) Cost implications of introducing a telecardiology service to support fetal ultrasound screening, Journal of Telemedicine and TeleCare, vol 14, pp 421-6
Buxton M, Hanney S, Morris S, Sundmacher L - Health Economics Research Group, Office of Health Economics, RAND Europe (2008) Medical Research - What's it worth? Estimating the economic benefits from medical research in the UK. London: UK Evaluation Forum
Epstein D, Sculpher M, Clayton T, Henderson R, Pocock S,
Buxton M, Fox K (2008) Costs of an early intervention versus a conservative strategy in acute coronary syndrome, International Journal of Cardiology, vol 127, pp 240-6
Epstein D, Sculpher M, Manca A, Michaels J, Thompson S, Brown L, Powell J,
Buxton M, Greenhalgh R (2008) Modelling the long-term cost-effectiveness of endovascular or open repair for abdominal aortic aneurysm, British Journal of Surgery, vol 95, no 2, pp 183-90
Soper B,
Buxton M, Hanney S et al (2008) Developing the protocol for the evaluation of the health Foundation's 'engaging with quality initiative': an emergent approach, Implementation Science, vol 3 (46) http://www.implementationscience.com/content/3/1/46
Stoykova B, Kuzmanov G,
Dowie R (2008) Putting NICE guidance into practice - a cost minimization model of a national roll-out of liquid based cytology in England, International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, vol 24, pp 391-8
Vallejo-Torres L, Steuten L, Buxton M et al (2008) Integrating health economics modelling in the product development cycle of medical devices: a Bayesian approach, International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, vol 24 (4), pp 459-64
Milewa T, Buxton M and Hanney S (2008) Lay involvement in the public funding of medical research: expertise and counter-expertise in empirical and analytical perspective, Critical Public Health, vol 18 (3), pp 357-66
Steuten L, Vallejo-Torres L, Young T,
Buxton M (2008) Transferability of economic evaluations of medical technologies: a new technology for orthopedic surgery, Expert Review of Medical Devices, vol 5 (3), pp 329-36
For a full list of HERG publications see our Publications page.
Grants obtained
Contract awarded to Assess the Economic Benefits of UK Medical Research. For more details click here .
Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, National Heart Foundation of Australia, Department of Health: Project Retrosight (an assessment of the impact of cardiovascular research in 4 countries led by HERG and RAND Europe); 2007-09 Health Research Board (Ireland): Assessing the Economic Impact of Research Funded by the Health Research Board; Steve Hanney (with RAND Europe); 2007-8 Department of Health: Review and update of key health care resource allocation formulae for the NHS in England (with researchers at the Universities of Aberdeen and York) NICE: Health Economics Analysis of Prevention and Intervention Approaches to Reducing Incidence of Coronary Heart Disease; 2006-7 NCCHTA: The Clinical and Cost-Effectiveness of Different Treatment Pathways for Neuropathic Pain; 2006-7 Health Foundation: An Evaluation of the Health Foundation's Engaging with Quality Initiative; Martin Buxton & Steve Hanney (with RAND Europe); 2005-9
* * * State of the Art in Assessing Research Impact
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