Does health information provide value?

To develop a systemic conceptual framework of how information delivers value that identifies the determinants and can inform analytical and empirical approaches to assess the value of information.

Health information is anticipated to improve animal health management and many claims are made regarding the value it provides;
Ex-ante assessments of its value are scarce yet crucial to inform developers of monitoring and support systems and potential users;
The scarcity of ex-ante assessments is due to a lack of systemic insights into the determinants of the value of information, which hampers the development of adequate study designs and raises challenges for making meaningful assumptions.

The conceptual model presents the value of information as the expected utility of managing with information minus the expected utility of managing without information.

Further, the conceptual model identifies 7 elements that influence, from information up to outcome, the value of information derived from the information. These elements are the research topic in often very distinct research fields and disciplines.

Study designs for the ex-ante assessment of the VOI will have to develop integrated interdisciplinary research approaches and designs based on the conceptual framework.