Transparency in Health Economic Modeling: Options, Issues and Potential Solutions

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Decision Science
• Computational Modeling

Background:

• Economic models are vital tools for health economists in evaluating health technologies and guiding healthcare policy.
• Current economic models often lack transparency, functioning as
• black boxes
• with undisclosed internal workings, hindering evaluation and reproducibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide an overview of strategies for enhancing the transparency of economic models in health economics.
• To encourage model developers to share detailed calculations and assumptions with the research community.

Main Methods:

• Discussion of various transparency levels (information disclosed) and reach (access).
• Identification and analysis of five key concerns regarding model transparency: copyrights, misuse, data confidentiality, software, and resource allocation.
• Exploration of potential solutions to address these concerns.

Main Results:

• A shift towards open-source models is observed in health economics, mirroring trends in other scientific fields.
• Key challenges to increased transparency include concerns over intellectual property, potential misuse, data privacy, software compatibility, and resource investment.
• Achieving transparency requires balancing its benefits against the necessary time and resources.

Conclusions:

• Increased transparency in economic models offers significant benefits for reproducibility, comparability, and informed healthcare decision-making.
• Addressing the challenges through stakeholder incentives is crucial for promoting the adoption of transparent models.
• Pursuing greater transparency in health economic models is a valuable and necessary endeavor despite the obstacles.