Alberta Innovates- Health Solutions

APPLYING THE BUXTON/HANNEY MODEL TO AHFMR-FUNDED HSR RESULTS FROM THE CASE STUDIES

Introduction
Given that the Buxton/Hanney approach to assessing the payback from research was developed in the context of HSR projects the first test was simply to see whether it could readily, and usefully, be applied to similar HSR funded by AHFMR in Alberta. The expectation was that this would be feasible, particularly as the earlier review of the context of AHFMR funding (Section 3) had not indicated any major local characteristic that might invalidate the approach.

In order to demonstrate the application of the model two pieces of research were initially analyzed as case studies of externally funded HSR:

• Case-Study 1: Evaluation of a novel diagnostic and treatment method for sleep apnea. Principal Investigator - Dr. HSR-1

• Case-Study 2: The value of lumbar spine radiographs in the management of low back pain. Principal Investigator - Dr. HSR-2

  In addition, two shorter examples of the work of the AHFMR's own internal HTA Unit was analyzed using the model:

• Case-Study 3: HTA Projects:
  • Stereotactic radiosurgery
  • Telephone nurse triage services.

Each of these is summarized briefly below using the framework of the model: the full accounts of the case studies are available upon request. A final section then draws together a number of conclusions from this test of the model with these case studies.