Janneke Grutters appointed as professor of Early Health Technology Assessment

Researcher Janneke Grutters has been appointed as professor of Early Health Technology Assessment at Radboud university medical center /Radboud University. Grutters is dedicated to the early evaluation of new healthcare technologies. She develops methods, provides guidance on dealing with uncertainty in decision-making, and applies early evaluation in numerous projects both within and outside Radboudumc.

New healthcare technologies can offer significant benefits to patients, but they can also have negative consequences, such as high costs, burdens on healthcare workers, and environmental impact. Moreover, not all innovations add value. Currently, decisions on whether to use or reimburse a new product are only made once it enters the market, limiting the options to approval or rejection. Janneke Grutters from the IQ Health department advocates for earlier involvement in the development of innovations, allowing for better consideration of their added value and enabling adjustments while still possible.

Grutters’ central question is: how can this innovation offer added value? Grutters explains: ‘My team and I prefer to get involved early, ideally before the development of a healthcare innovation even begins. We then investigate whether there is a need for the innovation, who it might benefit, in which situations, and what the end users of the technology require. We approach this from a scientific perspective and explore what patients, hospitals, or society could gain from a new product. And how we can ensure that the product is developed and implemented as valuably as possible.’

Need

For example, at Radboudumc, a plug is being developed to prevent premature births, with Grutters involved from the outset. ‘Sometimes surgery is necessary for an unborn baby in the womb. To reach the baby, the fetal membranes need to be punctured. This puncture does not heal, increasing the risk of premature birth. Researchers from Radboudumc are developing a plug that can close the puncture hole. We investigated for which surgeries this plug would be useful and what it would mean for patients, healthcare providers, and society if the plug indeed reduces the number of premature births.’

Grutters’ team uses two types of methods in their research, which they also continue to develop. First, they conduct qualitative research. They talk to for example patients, doctors, and insurers to determine if there is a need and support for the technology. This is followed by the phase of decision modeling. This means that Grutters’ team explores the potential impact of an innovation, for example, what the consequences would be if the developed plug indeed reduces premature births. They often build a computer model with a dashboard so that others can use it as well. Ideally, the two methods work hand in hand, informing each other.

Dealing with Uncertainty

In such an early stage of innovation, there is a lot of uncertainty, as the innovation still needs to be developed or investigated, and much is still unknown. But mapping out this uncertainty and determining how best to manage it is a challenge Grutters enjoys. She calculates all possibilities in her models, similar to how weather forecasts sometimes predict temperatures for the coming weeks. Grutters: ‘If all the calculated scenarios are favorable or unfavorable, it provides a foundation for decisions.’

Both nationally and internationally, the demand for early evaluation of healthcare innovations is growing. Dutch funding bodies, such as KWF and ZonMw, are increasingly asking for this. The field is rapidly developing, and Radboudumc plays a significant role in this. Grutters concludes: ‘Thanks to early evaluation, we can better prioritize innovations and efficiently manage people and resources.’

Career

Janneke Grutters studied Health Sciences at Maastricht University. She earned her PhD at the same institution with a dissertation titled: ‘Health technology assessment of organizational innovation in health care: the case of shared care in hearing aid provision.’ After holding various positions at MAASTRO Clinic and Maastricht University, Grutters began working as a researcher at Radboudumc in 2012. She leads an international working group within the HTAi organization and coordinates a national consortium tasked by ZonMw with establishing a national learning network in the field of early Health Technology Assessment. Her appointment as professor will commence on September 1, 2024, for a five-year term.

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