Cost-effectiveness of the NHS Innovation Accelerator Economic Impact Evaluation Case Study: Low Carb Program

An independent health economic conducted by the York Health Economics Consortium has demonstrated a significant saving in implementation of the Low Carb Program in the NHS.

The Low Carb Program is adigital behaviour change platform for people with type 2 diabetes, providing goal-focused education, personalised resources and support to adopt a lower carbohydrate lifestyle.  

The programme is provided through licences for participants paid for by CCGs, with primary care staff trained in the recruitment of participants and other aspects of the programme.  A trial has demonstrated benefits for participants in terms of weight loss, remission from type 2 diabetes, reduced HbA1c levels and elimination of medications.  

The latter two metrics are used in this case study to estimate the net benefits and return on investment (ROI) of the Low Carb Program over a period of 5 years.

For a CCG with 3,000 licenses, it is assumed that the cost savings at the end of one year of Low Carb Program implementation would save an average of £117.57 per participant in de-medication.

The results estimate the net saving over 5 years to be between £673,108 and £509,435 for a CCG which contracts for 3,000 licences with a conservative 52% drop-out rate. This results in an ROI of between 2.38.

The Economic Evaluation is available on the NHS Innovation Accelerator website or by clicking the Download PDF button below.

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