Reference Case Pilot Studies

Under the international Decision Support Initiative (iDSI), a Reference Case (RC) has been developed which outlines fundamental principles for researchers to use in the planning, conduct and reporting of economic evaluations, with a primary focus on meeting the informational needs of decision makers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).  The RC also provides a framework highlighting where further methods development is likely to be of greatest value.

A set of studies have piloted the application of the RC to healthcare interventions in LMICs.  The pilots applied the RC to economic evaluations that have already been conducted or are currently in production and they covered the following topics:

1. Point of Care CD4 diagnostic testing strategy in South Africa – full details of the underlying mathematical model are presented in a PLoS ONE published paper

2. Pneumococcal Conjugate and Human Papillomavirus Vaccine programs, Philippines

3. Xpert MTB/RIF diagnostic testing strategy in South Africa – a paper has been submitted for publication, read a summary of the paper here

4. Value for Money framework of the Department for International Development

5. Assessment of vaccine cost-effectiveness in the ProVac Initiative

 

The objectives of the pilot workstreams were to:

• To gain insight into the use of the RC in actual practice of economic evaluation in LMIC settings;
• To inform RC improvements;
• To contribute to RC-related template development and improvement (for application and reporting of future economic evaluations aiming to adhere to the RC).

A summary of each of the pilots is available in the report developed by University of Glasgow and NICE International on each of the five objectives under the iDSI Reference Case (RC) work stream and on its future use by the BMGF.