Method kit for quantifying benefits
Digital health apps promise major gains in effectiveness and efficiency. These are based, on the one hand, on digitalisation itself and, on the other, on the optimisation of work processes.
The developed method kit comprises a collection of approaches and instruments that serve to systematically analyse the added value of digital health tools and make it measurable. These are therefore practice-orientated examples that can be adapted to individual situations.
The aim is to measure the benefits of changed processes (e.g. time savings, cost savings, increased satisfaction) through digital health tools for various contact groups (patients, employees and organisational level).
As a hospital: How do I use the method kit?
As a hospital , the method case can help with the following question: What benefits can a particular digital health tool product generate for me?
Method kit instructions as a guide and examples:
The method case is designed to provide you with tools and approaches that can be used flexibly. The criteria and instructions listed in the table serve as a guide.They have been chosen as examples to illustrate typical approaches, but they are not exhaustive or universal. It is crucial that you check the criteria and instructions and adapt them to your individual situation so that they are optimised for the specifics of your institution and your needs.
Instructions based on a practical example:
To make the application of the method kit clearer, the instructions are illustrated with a concrete example:
Imagine you are a healthcare provider and you are in the following situation: you are considering introducing a digital health tool that will relieve you of administrative processes. You want to know how much time could be saved if you were to replace telephone appointment allocation with a digital tool (e.g. online appointment allocation).
To do this, carry out the following steps:
- Select the relevant process step . For the example, this means the Planning stay process step.
- Decide on the relevant dimension to be measured (efficiency, quality, satisfaction). For the example, this means the efficiency dimension for evaluating time savings.
- Select the desired guidance from the dimension. For the example, this means the instruction administrative process costs patient registration. This instruction is used as an example to illustrate how time savings can be measured and quantified.
- Transfer the selected instructions and adapt them to your individual situation.
- Now you are ready for implementation!
Overview - Method kit
The criteria and instructions listed in the table serve as a guide. They have been chosen as examples to illustrate typical approaches, but they are not exhaustive or universal. It is crucial that you review the criteria and instructions and adapt them to your individual situation so that they are optimally tailored to the specifics of your institution and your needs.
As a digital health tool provider: How can I use data?
As a digital health tool provider (DHT provider), the method kit can help with the following question: How can I get my product into a hospital?
You are a digital health provider and have the following situation: You have developed an innovative tool that can relieve the administrative burden on service providers. You want to demonstrate the benefits of your tool in a simple way. To do this, you carry out the following steps:
- Select the process step(s) at which your digital health tool starts.
- Create the data basis, either from existing data or in collaboration with a healthcare provider by using the method kit.
- Develop a calculation logic tailored to your digital health tool as the basis for a fast assessment tool for your DHT
- Test your fast assessment tool
- Use your fast assessment tool in dialogue with healthcare providers to forecast the potential benefits.
For example: fast assessment tool from heyPatient, which was developed as part of the SHIFT programme. **LINK**
System limits of the D.4 method kit
The world of digital health tools and applications is vast. The definition of digital health tools or technologies is based on the NICE ESF (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Evidence Standards Framework) definition for the developed method kit:
Digital health technologies (DHTs) are digital products that aim to improve people or the health and social care system as a whole. These can include:
- Smartphone apps
- Stand-alone software
- Online tools to treat or diagnose diseases, prevent health problems or improve system efficiency
- Programmes that can be used to analyse data from medical devices such as scanners, sensors or monitors.
The set of methods developed in D.4 is suitable for evaluating the benefits of digital health tools that can be classified in the NICE ESF Tier A category. These include DHTs, which are system services aimed at saving costs or freeing up staff time, aswell as increasing efficiency without having a direct impact on patients, health or care/treatment(Classification of digital health technologies, NICE ESF, 2022).