Professor Jon Karnon

Biography/ Background

Discipline of Public Health, School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, University of Adelaide (September 2007-

Health Economics and Decision Analysis section, School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield (2002-2007)

Health and Safety Laboratory, Sheffield (2001-2002)

Health Economics Research Group, Brunel University (1995-2001)

Qualifications

BA(Hons) Economic and Social History (University of Leeds)

MSc Health Economics (University of York)

PhD Health Economics 'Economic evaluation of health care technologies: A comparison of alternative decision modelling techniques' (Brunel University)

Teaching Interests

I am convenor of the postgraduate Health Economics program and within that program he delivers a course in Health Economic Evaluation and Decision Making (3110_PUB_HLTH_7082).

I also teach on the Health technology Assessment intensive course (3120_PUB_HLTH_7147HO), and tutors health economics on the MBBS.

In previous positions I led general health economics modules at Brunel University and the University of Sheffield in the UK, as well as a Decision Modeling in Economic Evaluation module at the latter.

Research Interests

I have a wide range of experience in both applied and methodological research. My principle focus is around the use of decision modeling techniques as a framework for the economic evaluation of health care technologies, and more recently the use of linked, routinely collected data to inform the economic evaluation of existing services.

Recently completed projects include an SA Health funded project to develop a methodology for using linked routinely collected data to analyse the risk adjusted cost-effectiveness (RAC-E) of clinical practice processes at alternative hospitals. This work resulted in applied case studies (under review), discussion of the technique as a means of informing the efficient price (Australian Health Review), and exploratory use of process mining as an complement to RAC-E to identify specific areas of variation in clinical practice processes (A Partington, Honours thesis).

Current research as principal investigator:

NHMRC project grants:

1. Integrating health technology assessment and service delivery and organisation to maximise health gains (APP 627130), involving the development of a discrete event simulation model to evaluate the cost-effectiveness analysis of alternative approaches to the delivery and organization of glaucoma services at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and the Royal Victorian Ear and Eye Hospital (www.adelaide.edu.au/esip).
2. Improving services for the assessment and management of surgical patients with modifiable co-morbidities (APP 1025140), an economic evaluation of an existing pre-operative clinic for high risk elective surgery patients to inform the development, implementation and subsequent evaluation of a referral pathway tool.
   
3. What is the value of improving hospital systems in relation to management of Acute Coronary Syndrome? (APP 1027822), an economic evaluation of systems-based factors for the management of ACS alongside the SNAPSHOT ACS audit of over 300 hospitals in Australia and New Zealand
   

ARC linkage project:

1. Evaluating the long-term costs and benefits of community based initiatives (APP LP0883930), developing a framework for the economic evaluation of community-based initiatives using linked, routinely collected data (www.adelaide.edu.au/pcsip) 

I also have a backgrond interest (i.e. when time allows) around the application of the SAVE as a measure of outcomes in the context of decision analytic modelling.

Previous research has included a wide range of applied modeling studies, which included the handling of a range of methodological issues, leading to

• recommendations around the circumstances in which the alternatives modelling techniques should be applied, 
• a review of modeling methodologies for the evaluation of screening programmes, and
  
• a generally applicable method that combines model calibration with probabilistic sensitivity analysis for health economic decision analytic models

Professional Interests

I have the following professional positions:

• Member of the Economic Sub-Committee of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.
• Associate editor of BMC Health Services Research.
• Editorial board of Pharmacoeconomics, Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, and the Open Pharmacoeconomics & Health Economics journal.
• Chair of the organising committee for the next conference of the Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand, to be held in Adelaide in 2011.
  
• Co-chair of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) / Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM) Discrete Event Simulation Modeling Good Research Practices Task Force Group
• Member of the ISPOR / SMDM Parameter Estimation Modeling Good Research Practices Task Force Group
  
• Founding and continuing member of the South Australian Health Economics Collaborative (HEC), which is supported by the SA Department of Health, and so provides direct access to relevant policymakers within the state. Such interaction is intended to increase the rate of translation from research to policy, which is a key objective of the HEC.

Expertise for Media Contact

Categories	Economics and finance, Medicine and medical research
Expertise	cost-effectiveness analysis; health technology assessment; decision modeling; economic evaluation
Notes	Jon is on the Editorial board of three Health Economics journals, Pharmacoeconomics, Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, and the Open Pharmacoeconomics Journal. Jon is a founding member of the South Australian Health Economics Collaborative (HEC).

Entry last updated: Sunday, 5 Feb 2012