๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ!
๐ง Recently, we successfully organized our first RECENTRE stakeholder lunch session. The RECENTRE team met with a clinical expert, business development expert and health systems expert to exchange knowledge and practical experiences on the topic of Market Research & Reimbursement of Lifestyle Interventions and eHealth.
๏ธThe session started with a short introduction on why and how market research is relevant in academic and early development settings (Meyke Roosink, PhD Roosink), followed by three so called โengagement cyclesโ on the reimbursement of lifestyle interventions and eHealth (Marloes Makkink).
๏ธโป๏ธDuring these cycles, Marloes introduced the different market access routes, the importance of understanding and demonstrating the added value of an innovation (why, how, what), shared her practical experiences with the recognition process of a combined lifestyle intervention, and discussed the potential added value of eHealth within such an intervention. After each cycle, there was a discussion round with all three experts, followed by a short Q&A with the RECENTRE team.
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ๐ง๐๐?
๐งญThe recognition route to reimbursement can be long and winding and is filled with many stakeholders. This denotes the importance of having a good overview of relevant stakeholders at an early stage. Despite taking more than 10 years for the lifestyle intervention (X-Fittt GLI) to become reimbursed as part of the basic insurance for people with obesity and overweight, this was an important step in lowering the threshold of participation and improving the accessibility of care.
๐กExperts recognized the dedicated time needed for demonstrating added value through research, which might be facilitated by involving end-users early and by ensuring that the innovation fits with existing practices and replaces instead of expands current care practices. In some cases, reimbursement might not be realistic or feasible. For example, in the Netherlands, digital care is currently reimbursed as part of regular care. As such, if a digital health innovation has a solid business case for care providers (or employers), this might be a more feasible access route.
๏ธ๏ธ๏ธโ๏ธLastly, concerns were raised about evidence requirements for personalized (digital) lifestyle interventions, and about unclear responsibilities (and financing) around lifestyle aspects such as general wellbeing and loneliness.ย These will be important considerations moving forward.
We would like to thank all participants for attending this session!
Arianne van Bon | Renรฉ A.J. Loek | Robin M. Toorneman
Vivica Health & Lifestyle | Zorginstituut Nederland
