On Monday 18th July, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) held the Early Value Assessment: Driving Innovation into the Hands of Health and Care Professionals webinar. The webinar provided more details into how Early Value Assessments – which will assess the clinical and economic value of digital health devices – will work, and how they will support NICE’s push to encourage innovation.
The Early Value Assessments were announced last month, on the 15th of June. They were introduced in response to the “explosion in digital health products”, with an aim to support National Health Service (NHS) commissioners in determining which technologies offer the maximum benefit to patients.
Two pilot digital health topics began their Early Value Assessments in June, with published findings expected in October. The assessments will focus on areas where there is the “greatest need”, and both pilots are digital apps for depression and anxiety in children. During the webinar, ten pilots in total were announced for 2022/23, with adult mental health, early cancer diagnosis, cardiovascular disease and elective recovery also included.
NICE provided more detail into how the process will work, with the early value assessments providing timely recommendations on digital products before full guidance is written. Also discussed were the benefits NICE hoped to see, including quicker signals to the health system on promising technologies, better evidence to inform commissioning decisions, earlier access for patients and a clearer pathway to market access for industry.
Sources:
- NICE’s Early Value Assessment for Medtech https://www.nice.org.uk/news/blog/nice-s-early-value-assessment-for-medtech-panning-for-nuggets-of-innovation-gold#:~:text=Early%20Value%20Assessment%20is%20being,where%20there%20is%20greatest%20need. Accessed 18th July 2022.
- Webinar: Early value assessment: Driving innovation into the hands of health and care professionals.