Star methodology

The methodology at the heart of Star is an example of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). MCDA is a procedure for people faced with a set of options to systematically rank their preferences using a range of different criteria.

Factors

For example, if someone is part of a group choosing between a number of different healthcare investment options, there may be concerns about:

• cost
• quality of outcome/change in patients’ life
• number of people in the population affected.

But these factors do not all matter equally to all stakeholders. MCDA allows users to judge each option against the criteria, taking all of the stakeholders’ views into account and attaching greater weight to the criteria upon which they place most importance.

The focus of Star

Star focuses on:

• population health gain (the ratio of individual health gain per person to the total number of people benefiting)
• value for money (the ratio of population health gain to costs of a healthcare intervention)
• how the interventions compare in terms of value for money.

As an additional step, Star can also focus on the potential of specific interventions to reduce health inequalities.

The Star approach does not claim to solve healthcare resource allocation problems. However it provides a means of systematically working through these criteria to facilitate transparency in decision making.

Find out more about the Star approach