Decision-analytic modeling to assist decision making in organizational innovation: the case of shared care in hearing aid provision.

OBJECTIVE: To illustrate the use of decision-analytic modeling to assist decision making in organizational innovations. STUDY SETTING/DATA SOURCES: Regarding an organizational innovation (shared care in hearing aid provision) available evidence from different sources was synthesized. STUDY
DESIGN: A probabilistic Markov model was constructed. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION: We modeled the long-term cost-effectiveness of different organizational formats of shared care as opposed to the current organization. We assessed the expected value of perfect information (EVPI) for several groups of parameters in the model. PRINCIPAL
FINDINGS: The current organization had the highest probability of being cost-effective. Additional research is worthwhile, especially on access to care and safety (sensitivity to detect pathology).
CONCLUSIONS: Decision-analytic modeling in an early stage of organizational innovation is a valuable tool to facilitate evidence-based decision making. © Health Research and Educational Trust.