Stakeholder Views on the Use and Challenges of Using Early Economic Evaluations in Health Innovation Development in The Netherlands

Objectives Early health economic analysis (EHEA) can be performed for a myriad of different use cases at different phases of technology development. Each of these analyses may have multiple, varying stakeholders that each have different information and decision needs. The objective of this study was to provide insight in the perceived value of EHEA in the development cycle of health innovations and to discover methodological improvements based on stakeholders’ information needs. Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted with 17 stakeholders involved in EHEA. The respondents were 4 investors, 4 technology developers, 3 grant providers, 3 researchers, 2 insurers, and 1 venture builder. The collected data were analyzed by thematic analysis. Results The interviews revealed a broad sense of usefulness of EHEA. Many respondents used or will use EHEA. Independent valuation of the innovation and identifying gaps in evidence quality were often seen as key values of EHEA. Improvements were suggested with regard to the inclusion of implementation and reimbursement routes and improving the presentation of results. Conclusions This study demonstrates that stakeholders of EHEA of healthcare innovations see an added value in informative health economic analyses demonstrating the added value of the innovation to inform the next steps of research and development. Improvement of the analyses should be sought in more insight in reimbursement routes and a more accessible and understandable presentation of the analyses.