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Dulsamphan T, Juntama P, Suwanpanich C, Isaranuwatchai W, Silzle M, Poonmaksatit S, Boonsimma P, Shotelersuk V, Visudtibhan A, Lusawat A, Kamolvisit W, Kapol N, Lochid-amnuay S, Sribundit N, Samprasit N, Morton A, Teerawattananon Y. Can knowledgeable experts assess costs and outcomes as if they were ignorant? An experiment within precision medicine evaluation. Int J Technol Assess Health Care 2023; 40:e4. [PMID: 37973547 PMCID: PMC10859837 DOI: 10.1017/s0266462323002714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to evaluate the validity of the standard approach in expert judgment for evaluating precision medicines, in which experts are required to estimate outcomes as if they did not have access to diagnostic information, whereas in fact, they do. METHODS Fourteen clinicians participated in an expert judgment task to estimate the cost and medical outcomes of the use of exome sequencing in pediatric patients with intractable epilepsy in Thailand. Experts were randomly assigned to either an "unblind" or "blind" group; the former was provided with the exome sequencing results for each patient case prior to the judgment task, whereas the latter was not provided with the exome sequencing results. Both groups were asked to estimate the outcomes for the counterfactual scenario, in which patients had not been tested by exome sequencing. RESULTS Our study did not show significant results, possibly due to the small sample size of both participants and case studies. CONCLUSIONS A comparison of the unblind and blind approach did not show conclusive evidence that there is a difference in outcomes. However, until further evidence suggests otherwise, we recommend the blind approach as preferable when using expert judgment to evaluate precision medicines because this approach is more representative of the counterfactual scenario than the unblind approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thamonwan Dulsamphan
- Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand
| | - Parntip Juntama
- Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand
| | - Chotika Suwanpanich
- Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand
| | - Wanrudee Isaranuwatchai
- Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand
| | - Madison Silzle
- Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand
| | - Sathida Poonmaksatit
- Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Ponghatai Boonsimma
- Center of Excellence for Medical Genomics, Medical Genomics Cluster, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Excellence Center for Genomics and Precision Medicine, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, The Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Vorasuk Shotelersuk
- Center of Excellence for Medical Genomics, Medical Genomics Cluster, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Excellence Center for Genomics and Precision Medicine, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, The Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Anannit Visudtibhan
- Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | | | - Wuttichart Kamolvisit
- Center of Excellence for Medical Genomics, Medical Genomics Cluster, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Excellence Center for Genomics and Precision Medicine, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, The Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Nattiya Kapol
- Department of Health Consumer Protection and Pharmacy Administration, Faculty of Pharmacy, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
| | - Surasit Lochid-amnuay
- Department of Health Consumer Protection and Pharmacy Administration, Faculty of Pharmacy, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
| | - Namfon Sribundit
- Department of Health Consumer Protection and Pharmacy Administration, Faculty of Pharmacy, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
| | | | - Alec Morton
- Department of Management Science, Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
| | - Yot Teerawattananon
- Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand
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Kapol N, Kamolvisit W, Kongkiattikul L, Huang-Ku E, Sribundit N, Lochid-Amnuay S, Samprasit N, Dulsamphan T, Juntama P, Suwanpanich C, Boonsimma P, Shotelersuk V, Teerawattananon Y. Using an experiment among clinical experts to determine the cost and clinical impact of rapid whole exome sequencing in acute pediatric settings. Front Pediatr 2023; 11:1204853. [PMID: 37465423 PMCID: PMC10350589 DOI: 10.3389/fped.2023.1204853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2023] [Accepted: 06/19/2023] [Indexed: 07/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective Evaluate the cost and clinical impacts of rapid whole-exome sequencing (rWES) for managing pediatric patients with unknown etiologies of critical illnesses through an expert elicitation experiment. Method Physicians in the intervention group (n = 10) could order rWES to complete three real-world case studies, while physicians in the control group (n = 8) could not. Costs and health outcomes between and within groups were compared. Results The cost incurred in the intervention group was consistently higher than the control by 60,000-70,000 THB. Fewer other investigation costs were incurred when rWES could provide a diagnosis. Less cost was incurred when an rWES that could lead to a change in management was ordered earlier. Diagnostic accuracy and the quality of non-pharmaceutical interventions were superior when rWES was available. Conclusion In acute pediatric settings, rWES offered clinical benefits at the average cost of 60,000-70,000 THB. Whether this test is cost-effective warrants further investigations. Several challenges, including cost and ethical concerns for assessing high-cost technology for rare diseases in resource-limited settings, were potentially overcome by our study design using expert elicitation methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nattiya Kapol
- Faculty of Pharmacy, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
| | - Wuttichart Kamolvisit
- Center of Excellence for Medical Genomics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Excellence Center in Genomics and Precision Medicine, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Lalida Kongkiattikul
- Pediatric Critical Care, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Evan Huang-Ku
- Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Namfon Sribundit
- Faculty of Pharmacy, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
| | | | | | - Thamonwan Dulsamphan
- Ministry of Public Health, Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP), Nonthaburi, Thailand
| | - Parntip Juntama
- Ministry of Public Health, Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP), Nonthaburi, Thailand
| | - Chotika Suwanpanich
- Ministry of Public Health, Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP), Nonthaburi, Thailand
| | - Ponghathai Boonsimma
- Center of Excellence for Medical Genomics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Vorasuk Shotelersuk
- Center of Excellence for Medical Genomics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Excellence Center in Genomics and Precision Medicine, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Yot Teerawattananon
- Ministry of Public Health, Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP), Nonthaburi, Thailand
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
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Kapol N, Maitreemit P, Chalongsuk R, Amrumpai Y, Sribundit N, Thavorncharoensap M, Chaikledkaew U, Teerawattananon Y. Making health technology assessment information available for decision making: the development of a Thai database. J Med Assoc Thai 2008; 91 Suppl 2:S8-S10. [PMID: 19253482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
In Thailand, there is an attempt to develop the Thai HTA database in order to improve the accessibility and usefulness of HTA information. At present, the database is available online at www.db.hitap.net. The database includes (1) economic evaluation studies i.e. cost-minimization analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and cost-utility analysis, (2) outcome assessment studies i.e. randomized controlled trials, and (3) quantitative measured quality of life studies. All HTA studies related to the Thai context, and published in either Thai or English from 1990 onward, are eligible for inclusion in the database. In addition, there is a quality evaluation for each economic evaluation study which will help readers, who have limited knowledge about the method, to understand and make appropriate use of the information in their own settings. This may also raise awareness among researchers, who will conduct economic evaluation studies in the future, to adhere to the standard methodological guidelines because the quality evaluation was developed based on the national guidelines published in this supplement journal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nattiya Kapol
- Department of Community Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom
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