Clinical
Costing
Solutions
Providing cost-effective solutions to improve patient outcomes
WHO ARE WE
Clinical Costing Solutions (CCS) provides health economics consultancy services to academia, the health service and charity sector across the UK and Ireland. We specialise in the design, conduct, evaluation and dissemination of health economics and outcomes research in a healthcare setting. We believe in combining robust research evidence, patient preferences and clinical experience to deliver cost-effective solutions in clinical practice.
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Dr Grainne Crealey is Director and Lead Economist at CCS. She has over 20 years experience in the area of health economics and has held positions in both academia (as a lecturer in the School of Pharmacy, QUB) and later within the health service as Senior Health Economist and Acting Director of the Northern Ireland Clinical Research Support Centre (NICRSC).
OUR SERVICES
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ADVICE AND CONSULTANCY
We provide methodological and technical support for clients at all stages in the research pathway - from determining a succinct, answerable research question (using evidence synthesis techniques or econometric analysis of existing databases); through the development of survey instruments to collect primary data (including market research activity, multi-dimensional work sampling and data management), or undertaking micro-costing studies to populate cost-effectiveness and decision models, cost-of-illness models or interactive budgetary impact models (using Excel and TreeAge).
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We have expertise navigating the research governance and ethics environment within the UK and Ireland; experience of supplying health economics technical documentation to successful funding applications for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Medical Research Council (MRC) and local government research funding bodies; Furthermore, we are committed to the co-production of high quality research outputs.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
We provide training in Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) for a range of audiences. This includes programmes aimed at health service managers wishing to understand and implement the findings of published cost-effectiveness analyses, or researchers wishing to acquire quantitative skills to enable them to undertake Health Technology Assessment (HTA).
OUR WORK
A review of economic evaluation methodologies for the assessment of arts and creativity interventions for improving health and wellbeing in older adults
Commissioned by Institute of Public Health (IPH), CCS are undertaking a review of the evidence on economic evaluation methodologies for arts and creativity interventions for older people.
We will assess a range of economic evaluation methodologies for existing arts and creativity interventions; and critically appraise the suitability of the methodologies calculated; and provide recommendations on the most suitable economic evaluation methodologies for future evaluations of arts and creativity interventions, and wider public health interventions.
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It is proposed that this report will help inform the future development of an IPH economic evaluation toolkit and guidance (phase two) to assist service providers, commissioners, and policy makers to implement economic analysis calculations suitable to interventions.
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Estimating the burden of skin cancer in Ireland and the potential savings of skin cancer prevention
Clinical Costing Solutions is working with the The National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) to estimate the cost of skin cancer in Ireland and the potential savings of skin cancer prevention.
In close collaboration with Public Health and Dermatology experts, the National Cancer Registry Ireland (NCRI) and the Health In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE) team, we are developing an incidence-based burden-of-illness model which will estimate the costs associated with melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) by stage and phase of disease.
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The report will be used to inform the National Skin Cancer Prevention Plan.
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The healthcare costs of harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption in older adults
In collaboration with colleagues from Queen's University Belfast, funded by Drink Wise, Age Well, and using data from the Hospital Information Branch, Department of Health, Northern Ireland, CCS used a cost-of-illness framework to estimate the healthcare cost of alcohol misuse in older adults in Northern Ireland (2017/18).
Economic evaluation of an innovative early intervention programme supporting families affected by ADHD
This initiative is supported by an award of €2.7m by the European Union’s INTERREG VA Programme, and is delivering the early intervention model in Belfast and Lisburn; County Louth and surrounding border area; and the Argyll and Bute region in Scotland. The project is set to benefit over 2,000 families in these regions over 3 years.
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Working closely with the team, CCS undertook multidimensional work sampling at all sites (in both the UK and Ireland) to estimate the cost of delivering this service. Using data from the Client Services Receipt Inventory (CSRI) it was also possible determine potential cost savings to government from its implementation.
Cost utility analysis of a novel stem cell therapy compared with standard care in delaying End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) in persons with type 2 diabetes diagnosed with Diabetic Kidney Disease (DKD) in three European countries.
CCS worked closely with colleagues from The National University of Ireland (Galway) on this Horizon 2020 funded study to conceptualise and build a decision model exploring the economic and therapeutic impact of the introduction of this novel stem cell therapy.
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A systematic review of the financial impact of patient decision aids
Working with Colleagues from Dartmouth College in the United States, a systematic review of published literature has been undertaken to determine whether patient decision aids generate savings within a healthcare setting, and if so, from which perspective (i.e. patient, provider organisation, society).
A cost comparison of alternate referral pathways for infants presenting with cow's milk allergy (CMA) in primary care in Northern Ireland.
Working with colleagues in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust (SEHSCT), healthcare resource use was captured for infants presenting with suspected CMA using alternate referral pathways (and tracked from referral to resolution). A range of estimates of cost savings (were the programme to be rolled out province wide) were determined and presented based on a range of roll-out scenarios.
Hearing loss, mental well-being and healthcare use - results from the Health Survey England (HSE)
In collaboration with colleagues from Queen's University Belfast, data were extracted from the 2014 Health Survey for England. In the analysis (disseminated in the Journal of Public Health) hearing loss consistently predicted aspects of cognition, autonomy, mobility and memory. We found the use of hearing aids attenuated this impact, suggesting a role for the use of hearing assistive technologies in avoiding such health issues and by extension their subsequent impact on service.
National Dental Epidemiology Programme for Northern Ireland: oral health survey of 5-
year-old children in 2018-19
Dental decay among children remains an important public health issue. Clinical Costing Solutions prepared a report on the inequalities found in prevalence and severity of dental decay in NI.
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CONTACT US
At Clinical Costing Solutions we have the experience and capacity to deliver your health economic consultancy needs, from ad hoc advice on the most appropriate evaluation approach to design and management of a range of health technology assessment methodologies