The OHE Research programme stimulates discussion and debate about critical issues in health economics and health care policy at the UK, European and international levels.
Although specifics vary over time, OHE research falls into three categories: the financing and delivery of health care, health technology assessment methods and processes, and the economics of the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries.
Activities include undertaking original research on a range of topics, as well as seminars and workshops, publications, and expert commissions. Publications may be downloaded from this site free of charge by registered users. The team's external activities are reported in OHE News.
The focus of some of OHE's current programme appears in the "Highlights" tab below. For more detail on a select subset of current OHE research projects, please see the "Featured Projects" tab.
In early 2011, OHE launched the new OHE Commission on Competition in the NHS, comprising thought leaders in economics and policy. A report detailing its findings will be available early in 2012.
HTA Methods and Processes
Health technology assessment, or HTA, is intended to assist policy makers in determining which health expenditures offer the greatest value. The OHE has a variety of projects underway on HTA and has recently published a thorough analysis of multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) applicable in any country. Research focused primarily on the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the NHS includes, for example: how best to capture patients’ preferences using the EQ-5D instruments and time-trade offs (TTO) methods; and how NICE makes decisions and how those decisions affect access to health care.
With City University London and Abacus International, OHE has created HTAinSite, a comprehensive database of decisions taken by NICE since its inception in 1999.
Economics of the Pharmaceutical and Life Science Industries
Private industry plays an essential role in innovation in all aspects of health care, interacting with both public- and charity-funded research sectors to realise the benefits of innovation worldwide. OHE’s recent research has included, for example, analysis of how best to stimulate R&D for new antimicrobials and for orphan/neglected diseaseas in both developed and the developing countries and ensure access to needed new medicines in the latter. The effects of pricing and reimbursement on innovation remains a core area of research.
Using Patient Reported Outcomes (PROMs) to Value Health Care
OHE was awarded a £325,000 Policy Research Programme grant by the UK Department of Health in early 2010. The fifteen-month project focuses on a new health status index – the five-level (5L) EQ-5D — that will capture smaller changes in health related quality of life than does the current three-level (3L) instrument. The EQ-5D is arguably the most important patient-reported outcomes measure (PROM) currently in use. In England, for example, it underpins technology appraisals submitted to NICE and is used by the PROMs programme to assess the quality of care provided in different settings.
The purpose of this research is to determine what evidence appears to most influence the decisions of the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) about medical technologies. All NICE decisions from 1999 through 2010 are being modelled to test hypotheses about the impact of a range of types of evidence, including cost effectiveness.
Following on its successful Commission on NHS Outcomes, Performance and Productivity, the OHE launched the independent OHE Commission on Competition in the NHS in February 2011. The purpose of the Commission is to investigate whether, how and where in the health services competition may be beneficial or harmful overall.
In January, 2012, the Commission released is report. The basic findings are summarized in the "Results" tab below and the fully report is available for download from this website.
The OHE Research programme stimulates discussion and debate about critical issues in health economics and health care policy at the UK, European and international levels.