A NIHR-funded health economics research report on an innovative AI-powered cardiac diagnostic tool

What impacts did the health economics show?

Data collection involved a combination of primary data collection and collation and integration of a range of secondary data from reputable sources including Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS References Costs, and PSSRU unit costs. Given the range of data, quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques were used to support with the cost-benefit analysis.

Demonstrating improved accuracy

Quantitative insights (pilot data annualised) indicated:

Fewer false positives meaning more patients were treated and avoided serious adverse events

Fewer false negatives, resulting in the expected avoidance of: 52 GP appointments, 6 secondary care referrals, and 82 patients on the primary long-term condition ongoing management caseload

Capturing long-term economic value

With the preventative nature of the intervention, costs are mostly realised immediately while benefits are realised in later time periods – causing a negative ROI in earlier years but a positive ROI by year 10.

What value did this health economics report add?

The report helped to develop the business case for the cardiac diagnostic tool, demonstrating the potential value of the solution in real-world NHS contexts. The analysis highlighted the key factors that the innovator and NHS organisations need to consider to realise the maximum benefits of the cardiac diagnostic tool; notably uptake and usage of the solution amongst clinical staff. The cardiac diagnostic tool had historically been implemented in Europe but was relatively new to the NHS. As a result, the analysis was able to show that positive results could be achieved with enough time and so long as reasonable rates of usage could be achieved in an NHS context.