Making Health Economics Work with a Limited Budget

As a startup, it’s important to set your new technology on the right market access pathway as early as possible to ensure efficient and effective use of funds and resources. However, funds are often limited for new companies and conducting quality health economics (HECON) studies can seem like a huge undertaking. Often, startups try to avoid investing in a health economics consultant in order to save valuable resources for other activities – or to keep plugging away at regulatory approval. The decision, while saving money in the short term, proves costly in the long run.

Why You Need a Health Economics Study

Strong health economics studies prove the impact your technology will have on the current market landscape. HECON studies demonstrate the clinical, economic, and humanistic outcomes of bringing a device into the current SOC. There is always a need to know how new interventions impact the economics of a country, payers, and clinicians – as well as the impact on individual lives.

This proves the impact and cost effectiveness of your technology within the current market landscape. Payers base their coverage and reimbursement decisions on the value communicated through the data provided in HECON studies. Your value messaging and market strategy will depend on the data generated from your HECON study.

Each specific segment of your target audience may look for different outcomes and data. From a medical device standpoint, market success requires demonstration of both clinical and economic value to healthcare decision makers. Because there are many different types of HECON Analyses – Budget Impact Models (BIMs), Cost-Effectiveness Analyses, and Cost-Utility Analyses to name a few – you’ll need to ensure you’ve employed the right models for your stakeholders’ needs. When mapped out correctly, you may save time, resources, and money down the road because your initial study has effectively gathered all data.

Selecting the right type of analysis for your device is vital – you’ll need to ensure the model chosen not only provides necessary data to stakeholders, but can easily be updated later as new data and real world evidence (RWE) become available. HECON studies aren’t just conducted at the start of your market access roadmap, they are conducted regularly throughout a product’s lifecycle.

HOW TO CONDUCT A HECON STUDY ON A LIMITED BUDGET

By working with market access professionals, there will be an up-front investment in a HECON study, however, check with consultants to see if there are options available such as spacing out studies over a given amount of time, conducting simpler models that communicate exactly what you need rather than overly complex models (simple is better). Historical evidence obtained through literature reviews can often take the place of complex studies as well.

Breaking up larger HECON studies into smaller sprints is another option offered that allows for easier budgeting, especially while funds are limited early in the product lifecycle. Sprints are smaller parts of the larger study and are prioritized according to the technology’s phase in the product lifecycle, target audience, device type, and anticipated market access strategy.

Consider a programmatic arrangement with your market access consultant. This may be an option when several solutions and studies are needed over a longer term. Programmatic consulting agreements offer a discounted rate in exchange for longer-term partnerships.

Strong HECON Studies Lead to Huge ROIs

While money may be tight in the beginning of your launch strategy, it’s important to invest in HECON studies as early as possible to maximize your growth potential. In our experience, companies investing in these studies accelerate time to market by 2 years and save hundreds of thousands of dollars in overall study expenses. Some companies mistakenly assume they can get by with a budget impact model, however, this analysis may not cover all your bases with stakeholders requiring additional information – resulting in costly study expenses later on.

The payer and provider adoption rates for technologies with strong HECON studies is significantly higher than for those without – and these devices also tend to command a higher price.

Make the Most of Your Data

For flexible, high-ROI health economics studies and market access consulting, contact the team at TTi Health Research & Economics for solutions that fit your budget