The Challenge
The innovators had developed a digital dietary education program, targeting adults with a BMI greater than 25. The program is accessible through a website and also on a mobile app, it offers structured meal plans to the user. Health Innovation East commissioned Health Tech Enterprise to investigate the potential cost benefit of implementing a digital dietary education programme. Would the use of the programme lead to a reduction in weight and concomitant type 2 diabetes remissions post-intervention lead to overall cost savings.
Our Approach
Initially we conducted a comprehensive literature review to firmly establish the link between weight loss and the reversal of type 2 diabetes (DMT2), and to gather key data parameters. Utilizing this collected information, we then constructed a decision analytical model based on a decision tree framework. The model was designed to simulate budgetary impact over a five-year period. The uncertainty of the model was accounted for by running a probabilistic sensitivity analysis using a Bayesian approach.
The Outcome
The model provided the innovator with the flexibility to explore the outcomes on cost impact of many diverse scenarios, including variations in the size of the target population, the scope of the analysis, and projected adherence rates. This has enabled the team to focus on development priorities for the programme. We also outlined some key recommendations for a data collection strategy for future clinical trial. This will increase the utility in clinical trials to support further health economic assessment.
The analysis conducted by HTE has been instrumental in showing the impact on cost of our innovation. The study has crucially highlighted areas where we should focus on building more evidence data; this insight will guide our future studies, enabling us to gather key data points and that further strengthen the quantitative evidence supporting the cost-effectiveness of our technology. David Oliver, CEO of Freshwell
