Following on from the Evidence Standards Framework for DHTs published in December 2018 (the Original Standards, as reported in our previous blog post, here), the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently published a newly updated version of the standards (the Updated Standards, available here).
The Updated Standards were produced following feedback received by NICE concerning the Original Standards. While the spirit of the latest standards is largely the same, the Updated Standards have sought to build out the aims and context for the document, including a new accompanying “User Guide” (which supersedes the previous “FAQs”). The User Guide covers the background of the standards, their development and use, and future priorities identified by stakeholders, along with a glossary of key terms, such as the Updated Standards’ interpretation of ‘Artificial Intelligence’, and ‘Real-world Data’. With respect to the economic impact section of the Updated Standards, a new ‘Basic’ level has been added for ‘low impact’ DHTs undergoing local service evaluation where a budget impact analysis rather than economic analysis would be appropriate.
NICE has also provided supporting case studies to help demonstrate how DHTs are functionally classified (here), and assessed for effectiveness and economic impact (here), respectively, under the Updated Standards.