The objectives of this project were:
- the development and improvement as well as coupling methods of HTA (Health Technology Assessment), statistical methods, different modeling technologies like Markov processes, System Dynamics and Agent Based Modelling and Visualization;
- the construction of a new service offering for the qualitative and economic evaluation of vaccination programs;
- decision makers should be able to perform comprehensible, problem-oriented and valid assessments of medical services for medical and economic aspects for more easily and more extensive application.
The overall concept of the service has been developed and shared standards and interfaces have been defined within the process and the expertise work to be able to solve future tasks more quickly. The results were internationally published by dwh and different partners (HVB, TU Wien, UMIT, VRVis).
Under the direction of dwh GmbH, a cooperative research project was carried out with nine other partners from industry and science. New methods have been developed in the areas of statistical analysis of routine data, Visual Analytics (for example, a new visualization method for Markov processes in HTA) and new modeling concepts; for example, Agent based modeling of epidemic spreading with effect from preceding immunities and integration of time-dependent, external influences on the agent such as weather. Newly developed (and existing) methods were analyzed for their ability to link to one another and were coupled where it was meaningful. The service has been integrated into existing quality assured processes and was tested on feasibility, compatibility and quality with the Federation of Austrian Social Insurance as reference customer (proof of concept) as well as national and international HTA experts (for example, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Technology Assessment).
Funding information:
This project was funded by a intiative of the Bundesministeriums für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie (bmvit) and the Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft, Familie und Jugend (BMWFJ), funding administration by FFG.