Population ageing represents one of the major challenges that contemporary society is going to face in the coming years. This phenomenon is putting high pressure on the healthcare system and makes it necessary to identify specific instruments ensuring to live longer in healthy conditions, concept also referred to as healthy ageing. Several technological innovations have been proposed and continue to be proposed to successfully move in this direction. It emerges the need to provide valid guidelines and methodologies to support decision-makers in healthcare in the evaluation process of the proposed innovative technologies. Traditionally, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is employed. Anyway, it has historically been under discussion. In recent times, social return on investment (SROI) methodology has been promoted as a more ‘holistic’ approach for demonstrating value-for-money of initiatives. Given the lack of evidence concerning SROI analysis of technologies, the authors developed and validated a model for performing an SROI analysis when evaluating innovative technologies promoting healthy ageing. To address the research question, an inductive approach has been employed, selecting as a starting point the real case of a virtual coach for healthy ageing: European NESTORE H2020 project. NESTORE is a multi-dimensional and personalized virtual coaching technology for the enhancement of people’s well-being and quality of life after their 65. SROI for NESTORE (under the assumption of an implementation in the Lombardy Region) has been defined involving as stakeholders the Lombardy Region healthcare system, beneficiaries (senior adults living in the Lombardy Region), the Lombardy Region economic system and beneficiaries’ familiar caregivers. SROI ratio (over a time horizon of 10 years) oscillates between 1,36 and 2,23; therefore, the project results to be value-for-money. The result has been validated by NESTORE Consortium itself. This study contributes to the existing literature on the SROI, confirming that there is room for its application when dealing with healthcare technologies. In addition, it represents a useful aid for NESTORE decision-makers and distributors, supporting them in the definition of a suitable and detailed exploitation strategy for the initiative.
Il processo di invecchiamento della popolazione rappresenta una delle maggiori sfide per la società contemporanea. Esso pone sotto pressione il sistema sanitario e rende necessaria l’identificazione di strumenti specifici per garantire, con l’avanzare dell’età, il mantenimento di buone condizioni di salute. Questo concetto è anche noto come “healthy ageing” . Diverse innovazioni tecnologiche sono state e continuano ad essere proposte per procedere con successo in questa direzione. Emerge dunque la necessità di fornire linee guida e metodologie valide per supportare i decision-makers nel processo di valutazione delle tecnologie proposte. Tradizionalmente, in sanità, viene utilizzata l’analisi costi-benefici (CBA). Tuttavia, tale strumento è stato storicamente oggetto di forti discussioni. Recentemente, la metodologia del Social Return on Investment (SROI) è stata proposta come un approccio più olistico, che consenta di dimostrare il rapporto valore-costo di una data iniziativa. Data l’assenza, in letteratura, di contributi relativi all’analisi SROI di tecnologie, gli autori hanno sviluppato e validato un modello per applicare lo SROI alla valutazione di tecnologie innovative volte a promuovere l’ ”healthy ageing”. Per rispondere alla domanda di ricerca, è stato adottato un approccio induttivo, identificando il caso reale di un virtual coach per l’healthy ageing: il progetto europeo H2020 NESTORE. NESTORE è una tecnologia di coaching virtuale multidimensionale e personalizzata, che mira al miglioramento della salute e della qualità della vita dopo i 65 anni. Il modello SROI per NESTORE (presupponendo l’implementazione nella Regione Lombardia) è stato definito coinvolgendo come stakeholders il Sistema Sanitario della Regione Lombardia, beneficiari (40-79enni che risiedono nella Regione Lombardia), il sistema economico della Regione Lombardia ed i caregiver familiari dei beneficiari. Lo SROI calcolato (considerato un orizzonte temporale di 10 anni) oscilla tra 1,36 e 2,23; di conseguenza, la valutazione finale circa il progetto risulta essere positiva. Il risultato è stato validato dal NESTORE Consortium stesso. Lo studio in oggetto contribuisce alla letteratura esistente sullo SROI, confermando la sua potenziale applicazione nella valutazione di tecnologie in sanità. Inoltre, esso rappresenta un valido supporto per i decision-makers ed i promotori dell’iniziativa NESTORE, supportandoli nella definizione di una efficace strategia di diffusione.
Technology assessment in healthcare through social return on investment : the case of virtual coaching for healthy ageing
SELVA, ALICE;BIASIN, CATERINA
2018/2019
Abstract
Population ageing represents one of the major challenges that contemporary society is going to face in the coming years. This phenomenon is putting high pressure on the healthcare system and makes it necessary to identify specific instruments ensuring to live longer in healthy conditions, concept also referred to as healthy ageing. Several technological innovations have been proposed and continue to be proposed to successfully move in this direction. It emerges the need to provide valid guidelines and methodologies to support decision-makers in healthcare in the evaluation process of the proposed innovative technologies. Traditionally, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is employed. Anyway, it has historically been under discussion. In recent times, social return on investment (SROI) methodology has been promoted as a more ‘holistic’ approach for demonstrating value-for-money of initiatives. Given the lack of evidence concerning SROI analysis of technologies, the authors developed and validated a model for performing an SROI analysis when evaluating innovative technologies promoting healthy ageing. To address the research question, an inductive approach has been employed, selecting as a starting point the real case of a virtual coach for healthy ageing: European NESTORE H2020 project. NESTORE is a multi-dimensional and personalized virtual coaching technology for the enhancement of people’s well-being and quality of life after their 65. SROI for NESTORE (under the assumption of an implementation in the Lombardy Region) has been defined involving as stakeholders the Lombardy Region healthcare system, beneficiaries (senior adults living in the Lombardy Region), the Lombardy Region economic system and beneficiaries’ familiar caregivers. SROI ratio (over a time horizon of 10 years) oscillates between 1,36 and 2,23; therefore, the project results to be value-for-money. The result has been validated by NESTORE Consortium itself. This study contributes to the existing literature on the SROI, confirming that there is room for its application when dealing with healthcare technologies. In addition, it represents a useful aid for NESTORE decision-makers and distributors, supporting them in the definition of a suitable and detailed exploitation strategy for the initiative.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/150950