OBJECTIVES: Early health economic analysis can be performed for a myriad of different types of innovations at different phases of technology development. Due to both aspects, these analyses have multiple, varying stakeholders that each have different information needs to inform their decision. The primary objective of this study was to provide insight in the use and methodological challenges of health economic analyses in the development of health innovations for different stakeholders.

METHODS: Semi structured interviews were conducted with 17 stakeholders of early health economic analyses. The respondents were grant providers, insurers, investors, technology developers and researchers. The stakeholders were asked to reflect on their believes about health economics and the methodological requirements of using economic analyses during product development. The interviews focused on unmet information needs and how health economics could serve these needs. The data collected was analyzed by thematic analysis.

RESULTS: The interviews revealed a broad sense of usefulness of early health economic analysis. Many respondents voiced support for the use of health economic analyses during product development. Independent valuation of the innovation and identifying gaps in evidence quality were often seen as key values of early health economic analyses. Improvements were voiced with regard to the inclusion of implementation and reimbursement routes and improving the presentation of results.

CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that stakeholders of early health economic analyses of healthcare innovations see an added value in informative health economic analyses demonstrating the added value of the innovation to inform next steps of research and development. Improvement to the analyses should be sought in more insight in reimbursement routes, a detailed “follow-the-money” analysis and a more accessible and understandable presentation of the analyses.