Scoping review of economic evaluations of assistive technology globally

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ABSTRACT

The paper presents a scoping review of existing economic evaluations of assistive technology (AT). The study methodology utilized a PRISMA flow approach with final included studies that met an adapted PICOS framework. Types of economic evaluations employed, study type and rigor and domains of AT impact were considered and analyzed. The economic evaluations in this study included 13 CBA, 9 CMA, 18 CEAs and 10 CUA. The majority of studies (32 studies in total) mentioned or recorded that AT investment, access and/or usage had impacts on the domain of both informal and formal health care. Specifically, care costs, time, and resources were affected. Our study has found that current AT economic evaluations are limited. This study advocates for a wider use of robust alternative evaluation and appraisal methodologies that can highlight AT value and which would subsequently provide further evidence that may make governments more willing to invest in and shape AT markets.

KEYWORDS:

• assistive technology
• cost-saving
• evaluation
• value

Notes

¹ WHO. (2021) Priority Assistive Products List. Improving access to assistive technology for everyone, everywhere. “WHO_EMP_PHI_2016.01_eng.Pdf”. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/207694/WHO_EMP_PHI_2016.01_eng.pdf?sequence=1.

² Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.1 (updated September 2020). Cochrane, 2020. Available from www.training.cochrane.org/handbook.

³ Measure of overall disease burden. Developed in 1990s as a way of comparing the overall health and life expectancy of different countries.

⁴ Unlike DALYS, QALYS only measure the benefit without and without medical intervention and do not measure total burden. QALY tend to be used more often as an individual verses a societal measure.

⁵ The Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with Assistive Technology evaluates a patient’s satisfaction with various assistive technologies. It assess activities of daily living by capturing patient reported outcomes.

⁶ Andrich, Renzo (2002). “The SCAI Instrument: Measuring Costs of Individual Assistive Technology Programmes”: 95– 99.