Interventional neuroradiology (INR) includes a range of procedures for the endovascular treatment of conditions of the brain and spine such as subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs) management of vasospasm following SAH, and a range of other conditions such as arteriovenous malformations (AVM), acute ischaemic stroke conditions, brain tumours and spinal fractures.
South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (on behalf of the NSW State Planning Group) engaged HPA to conduct a study of the costs of these procedures, as provided in NSW public hospitals, and project future activity to help evaluate options for future arrangements for INR services in NSW public hospitals.
South Eastern Local Health District
Our approach
We undertook a micro-costing study of INR procedures in four NSW public hospitals. The study involved gathering data from clinicians (INR specialists, neurosurgeons, intensive care specialists, nursing staff, business managers) about the resources used in the delivery of these services not captured in routine information systems.
We combined the study collected data with that from routine information systems (e.g. annual costing studies undertaken by the hospitals) to estimate costs for individual INR procedures. Costs were also estimated for usual care for conditions for which INR procedures could be used, to compare the costs of INR with usual care.
We developed projections of INR activity using learnings from the literature and opinions of clinical experts and applied these to known characteristics of the NSW population (e.g. ageing, morbidity in specific areas) to forecast future demand.
Outcome
The information from the costing study was used to evaluate options for future arrangements for INR services in NSW public hospitals.
Our vision
HPA aims to be a leading firm in specialist consulting services in the health care sector, offering qualitative and quantitative analysis and synthesis of evidence, providing expertise in statistics and data science, and contributing to well founded and practical policy advice. We aim to deliver the highest quality of services, helping our clients to achieve their objectives, while transferring our expertise and building their capabilities.
