The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has launched a new reporting standard designed to help improve the transparency and quality of cost-effectiveness studies of AI technologies, in a move it hopes will “help healthcare decision-makers understand the value of AI-enabled treatments” and offer patients “faster access to the most promising ones”.
Following a systematic review which identified issues in quality amongst published AI health economic evaluations, relating to input data, conflicts of interest, lack of transparency, and “unclear” information about AI functionality; NICE set about creating the tool to support health and care system decision-makers in reimbursement decisions relating to AI.
The CHEERS-AI tool builds on existing best practice by utilising 28 original standards from the previously published reporting guidance, and now adds 8 extra details “for AI-related nuances”, and 10 new standards specifically for AI, including user autonomy and AI learning over time.
NICE reports that the resulting checklist is intended to help ensure transparency and “reproducible reporting” relating to the use of AI in health economic evaluations, with hopes that it will “raise the standard of economic evaluation reporting as AI’s presence in healthcare grows”.
To learn more about CHEERS-AI, please click here.
AI wider trend
A HTN panel discussion from August looked at whether the reality of AI will live up to the current hype and managing bias in healthcare data, covering topics such as what good looks like for responsible AI, ensuring inclusive and equitable AI, and the deployment of AI in the NHS.
A poll over on our LinkedIn page asked followers for their thoughts on the biggest concern for AI in healthcare, with potential options including equitability, bias, transparency, or regulation, with regulation coming out on top. There’s still chance to have your say on this topic – take part in our most recent poll relating to where NHS funding for AI should go in the short term here.
In October, we looked at AI use cases in the NHS, including in supporting diagnosis, personalising treatment, predicting disease, and more. We also covered DeepHealth’s acquisition of London-based cancer diagnostic company Kheiron Medical Technologies Limited, as part of efforts to expand its portfolio of AI-powered diagnostic and screening solutions; and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire’s (UHCW) use of AI to improve patient experience.
At the end of last month, NHS England also shared guidance on evaluating artificial intelligence projects and technologies with learnings from the ‘Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award’, which ran for four years until 2024 and supported the design, development and deployment of “promising” AI technologies.
The launch of HTN’s AI and Data Awards is an opportunity to celebrate how AI technologies are making an impact across health and care, offering a platform to share innovations and projects to help shape future services and systems.
Focusing on accelerating innovation in the NHS
In wider news on innovation, the Alzheimer’s Society’s 2025/26 accelerator programme has opened for applications, seeking products or services designed to make “an everyday task easier” for people living with dementia and technologies focusing on tackling challenges in the dementia pathway.
Elsewhere, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust has launched a digital inclusion team with the aim of improving access to healthcare and increasing patient comfort and confidence through provision of one-on-one support; whilst North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust has implemented livestreaming technology to support maternity care, enabling student midwives, student nurses and resident doctors to observe caesarean section surgery in real time.
Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust has launched an immersive simulation suite designed to support training for multi-disciplinary staff in the development of a range of clinical and non-clinical skills, with technology utilised to “create lifelike visual surroundings, sounds and smells”.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has published its IT Strategy for 2024 – 2028, with digital emphasised as a key enabler for efficiency, service improvement and innovation, with a need to deliver a digital service offering tech that is secure and easy to use; and features up-to-date and accurate data managed within a “secure, governed framework”.
