Synthesising economic evaluations from different countries: challenges for Cochrane reviewers

Article type
Authors
Iglesias C, Manca A, Drummond M
Abstract
Background: Methods which enable policy makers to assess the extent to which economic and clinical trial results are valid in different geographical settings are important for Health Technology Assessment (HTA). There has, therefore, been understandable interest in methods that enable decision makers to use data from multinational studies to generate jurisdiction-specific cost effectiveness information which formally allows for variability in costs and effects between locations.

Objectives: This workshop will raise awareness among participants about some of the main issues that should be taken into account when evaluating and discussing the between country transferability of the results from economic evaluations of healthcare technologies. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the main factors determining the lack of geographical transferability of results;
2. Discuss the potential impact of those factors in the transferability of results;
3. Explore the extent to which the transferability of the results had been accounted for in existing analyses, with a discussion of the pro and cons of each approach;
4. Recognise recently proposed quantitative methods to explore the geographical transferability of economic evaluation results.

Description: A critical appraisal of the results from any Cochrane systematic review requires thorough evaluation of the existing evidence from a range of different perspectives, e.g. Local Health Authorities, Ministries of Health, Third Party Payer, among others. Reviewers require therefore a strong understanding of the factors that can promote/limit the transferability of the study results to their setting of interest.
The facilitators of this workshop will discuss the main factors affecting the geographical generalisability of cost effectiveness results and some of the ways in which the generalisability has been rightly or wrongly investigated.
The session will include two brief presentations, interactive exercises to critically appraise the transferability of the findings from a previously published economic study, and discussion. Examples of evaluation instruments will be distributed.

Target audience: Review authors and Co-ordinating Editors; advisors of those responsible for resource allocation decisions; health services researchers.

Style: Training workshop