ESTRO Annual Report 2018

Health economics in radiation oncology (HERO)

The HERO cost accounting model and its use

The HERO project launched the HERO cost accounting tool in December 2017. The cost accounting tool provides insight on national resource requirements and costs of external beam radiotherapy. 2018 was dedicated to the first applications of the model in national frameworks . One year after its launch two testing countries are finalizing its application. Additionally, three European national societies set up working groups to collect the requested data inputs. Belgium: an interdisciplinary group representing the Belgian national societies collected all the necessary input data and reviewed two rounds of data output. Results were presented at the annual meeting of the Belgian Society of Radiotherapy and will be used to guide proposals on the future national norms in term of personnel resources needed at the national level. Hungary: a team of experts is validating the input data after a first round of output revision. Spain: a interdisciplinary team of experts, set up in early 2018, is working on the input data collection through a dedicated survey amongst SEOR tumour site-committees. France: the French national societies set up a task force of representatives last spring, mirroring the different typology of hospitals present in France, with the task of sampling the needed input data. United Kingdom: after thorough assessment of the feasibility of the data collection at national level, a task force has been set up in December 2018 to start collecting data inputs. The setup of such working groups is central to ensure collaboration amongst all RT professional societies and enhance the representativeness of the data sample. The data collection is an insightful but intensive exercise, depending on the national data available. The HERO health economist supported the various groups, providing guidance and advice on the model usage and interpretation of data.

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