Smarter Choices for Better Health

Evaluation of Health Care 2.0

The Evaluation of Health Care 2.0 action line has the ambition to pave the way for a full benefit HTA decision-making framework, to enable a fair and transparent evaluation of a wider scope of interventions in and between health sectors (i.e. prevention, cure and care). Our goal is to set the landscape for a full benefit HTA decision-making framework by measuring benefits using three research pillars. In pillar 1 we will validate and valuate a wellbeing instrument for measuring benefits beyond QALY. In pillar 2 we will work on several fundamental methodological and procedural research questions related to measuring preferences and making accurate uptake predictions. In pillar 3 we seek to rethink policy-related preconditions for HTA decisions. In specific, we will define when decisions are preference sensitive, when full-benefit assessment is desired, and how preferences over benefit distributions can be incorporated in HTA decision-making.

Action Line Leaders: Raf van Gestel (ESHPM, ESE), Jorien Veldwijk (ESHPM)

Postdoctoral researchers: Samare Huls (ESHPM)

Affiliated MT members: Tom van Ourti (ESHPM), Esther de Bekker-Grob (ESSB)

Health Equity

Within the Health Equity action line we investigate how the socioeconomic and physical environment shapes inequalities in health across the life cycle. By applying state-of-the-art quantitative methods using administrative and other data sources, we aim to document the relationships between societal determinants and health, and evaluate (policy) interventions using natural and randomized experiments. We are particularly interested in providing new ways to unravel causal mechanisms to experiments that have been conducted, or interventions that are already implemented. For example, by adding randomly assigned take-up interventions to population wide policies, or applying innovative empirical techniques to research designs.

Action Line Leaders: Bram Wouterse (ESHPM), Bastian Ravesteijn (ESE)

Postdoctoral researchers: Famke Mölenberg (Erasmus MC), Joost Oude Groeniger (Erasmus MC, ESSB)

Outcome-Based Health Care

In modern-day healthcare, diagnostic and treatment options are expanding and changing rapidly, while chronic diseases and comorbid conditions are increasing. At the same time, quality of care and health outcomes fall short of its potential and healthcare cost growth is escalating. A promising approach to simultaneously deal with all of these challenges is outcome-based healthcare. The essence of this movement is that the interests of all stakeholders are aligned with the common goal of realizing optimal health outcomes and patient experiences at the lowest possible costs. The researchers in this Action Line strive to provide new insights in how ‘outcomes’ can be measured. They also develop and test promising interventions aimed at improving outcomes in healthcare, such as innovative provider payment models.

Action Line Leaders: Nikki van Leeuwen (Erasmus MC), Frank Eijkenaar (ESHPM)

Postdoctoral researchers: Raf van Gestel (ESHPM), Daniëlle Cattel (ESHPM)

Prevention

Current health developments worldwide call for an increased focus on prevention. Preventive measures are vital to tackle the burden of non-communicable diseases and increase the sustainability of health care systems. The benefits of effective prevention are widely acknowledged but how prevention efforts should be organized is hotly debated.

At the core of the debate lies a trade-off between scale and scope. Large-scale interventions typically follow a one-size-fits-all approach. Everyone is assumed to make suboptimal decisions about their health and they receive the exact same intervention. This leads to a narrow scope of these interventions as they cannot cater to the varying needs, preferences and contexts of individuals. Individually tailored interventions are optimized for each individual. They are complex, tackle many different behaviors, and typically involve personal coaching or guidance. However, it is unclear if and how they can be scaled up to large populations.

Prevention 2.0 has the ambition to bridge this divide. Our goal is to gain knowledge on how to design large scale behavioral health interventions that consider people’s unique needs and the context of their daily lives.

Action Line Leaders: Georg Granic (ESE), Joost Oude Groeniger (Erasmus MC, ESSB)

Postdoctoral researchers: Lili Kókai (Erasmus MC), Stefan Lipman (ESHPM)

PhD candidate: Dorien Beeres

Affiliated scientific advisory board members: Kirsten Rohde (ESE)

Affiliated MT members: Hans van Kippersluis (ESE)