HERU Seminar - Lucy Abel

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HERU Seminar - Lucy Abel
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This is a past event

Lucy Abel is a health economist working at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford.

Her research involves using both decision analytic modelling and trial-based evaluations to assess the cost-effectiveness of primary care diagnostic, prognostic and monitoring interventions. She has a particular interest in assessing the impact of diagnostic strategies on health outcomes that are not readily captured in current cost-effectiveness methods, for example, weighing the benefits of early cancer diagnosis against the harms of overdiagnosis, or the relationship between antibiotic prescribing and antimicrobial resistance. 

Title: Making sense of the maze: primary care diagnostics require new methods to assess cost-effectiveness.

Primary care diagnostics are having a moment. From ever-shortening cancer diagnosis targets, to recent calls for every antibiotic prescription to be preceded by a test, to the new Health Secretary’s enthusiasm for online diagnosis, policy changes have led to more tests being developed and used in primary care than ever before. New technology requires evaluation, creating a challenge for cost-effectiveness methods. In this seminar I will discuss this changing landscape and outline some of the ways cost-effectiveness methods, in particular decision modelling, can be adapted to evaluate technology in this complex care setting. I will illustrate these methods with case studies in COPD and myeloma diagnosis, while also highlighting areas where further work is needed.

Hosted by
Marjon van der Pol
Venue
Rm1:029, Polwarth Building