Requisite models for strategic commissioning: the example of type 1 diabetes

A developing emphasis of health care reforms has been creating organisations with responsibilities for strategic commissioning of services for defined populations. Such organisations must set priorities in aiming to meet their populations' needs subject to a budget constraint. This requires estimates of the health benefits and costs of different interventions for their populations. This paper outlines a framework that does this and shows how this requires modelling to produce estimates in a way that is transparent to commissioners, of requisite complexity to produce sound estimates for priority setting using routinely available data. The example illustrated in this paper is an intervention that would improve glucose control in the English population with type 1 diabetes.