DEEP ENGAGE
Developing evidence-informed patient engagement guidance for economic evaluations (DEEP-ENGAGE)
Canadian health systems depend on economic evaluations to guide coverage and funding decisions, yet the people who live with the consequences—patients and caregivers—are seldom involved in shaping those analyses. This absence of lived experience can lead evaluations to miss real-world treatment burdens, day-to-day functional impacts, and equity considerations, ultimately weakening public confidence in policy decisions. DEEP-ENGAGE will address this gap by co-creating Canada’s first, globally applicable guidance that specifies when, where, and how to embed meaningful patient voice across every stage of an economic evaluation—from defining the research question to interpreting and disseminating results.
Project Objectives
- Map existing engagement guidance and judge its relevance to value-for-money studies.
- Identify barriers and facilitators through interviews with evaluation authors, patient partners, HTA agencies, and government bodies.
- Develop, validate, and field-test a practical toolkit that includes step-by-step instructions, reporting templates, and impact measures.
Approach
| Phase |
Core Activities |
Planned Outputs |
| Umbrella review |
Appraise engagement frameworks across health research; situate best practices in the economic-evaluation cycle. |
Draft engagement options and reporting elements. |
| Qualitative interviews |
Speak with researchers, patient partners, CDA, Ontario Health, ICER, and other policy leaders. |
Real-world barriers, enablers, and equity considerations. |
| International eDelphi |
Two–three survey rounds with global experts to reach consensus on essential practices. |
International eDelphi Two–three survey rounds with global experts to reach consensus on essential practices. Ranked list of core guidance items and impact metrics. |
| Consensus Meeting |
Patient partners and eDelphi panelists finalize guidance. |
Plain-language manual, checklists, and templates ready for pilot use. |
Expected Outcomes and Policy Impact
DEEP-ENGAGE will deliver a toolkit that makes it transparent how patient input influences each value-for-money study, thereby strengthening the legitimacy of funding decisions. Health economists and health technology assessment agencies—including Ontario Health, Canada’s Drug Agency (CDA), and Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER)—will refine and disseminate the guidance using established knowledge-mobilization platforms: CDA’s Learning Hub and symposium, Ontario Health’s HTA network, ICER’s webinar series, and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute’s seminar series. By embedding lived experience in economic evaluations, the project will enable Canadian and international decision-makers to reach funding choices that are fairer, more transparent, and clearly aligned with what matters most to patients and caregivers.
