ITECH — Initiative for Technology Evaluation and Cost-effectiveness in Healthcare
Research & Impact

Rigorous, policy-relevant evidence for sustainable healthcare.

We bridge clinical epidemiology, health economics, precision medicine and real-world implementation — translating data into meaningful patient and policy impact.

Research themes

Six interconnected areas of inquiry.

01

Healthcare Costs & Economic Burden

Informs sustainable healthcare financing and value-based policy decisions.

  • Temporal hospital cost trajectories
  • Complication-specific cost modelling
  • Latent class cost subgroup identification
  • Productivity-adjusted life years (PALYs)
  • Financial toxicity and societal burden
02

Cost-Effectiveness & Health Technology Assessment

Advanced patient-level simulation and real-world evidence to support reimbursement and allocation.

  • Cardiovascular-renal prevention strategies
  • Biomarker-guided screening (e.g., NT-proBNP)
  • Lipid-lowering therapies (PCSK9 inhibitors, bempedoic acid)
  • SGLT2 inhibitors and combination therapies
  • Value-based pricing
03

Patient Reported Outcomes Research Measures (PROMs), Quality of Life & Productivity

Integrating patient experience into clinical and economic evaluation.

  • Health-related quality of life (HRQoL)
  • Depression and psychosocial burden
  • Presenteeism and absenteeism
  • Productivity loss modelling
  • Instrument validation
04

Risk Prediction & Precision Medicine

Tools to identify high-risk individuals and enable targeted intervention.

  • Biomarker-enhanced prediction models
  • Genetic risk stratification
  • Validation of international risk engines in Asian populations
  • Machine-learning–informed phenotyping
  • Early identification of severe insulin-deficient subtypes
05

Patient-Level Simulation & Real-World Evidence

Advanced modelling to project lifetime complications, costs and outcomes.

  • Chinese Diabetes Outcome Model
  • Emulated target trials
  • Real-world comparative effectiveness research
  • Trajectory and cluster analysis
06

Mixed-Methods & Implementation Research

Quantitative modelling with qualitative and behavioural research on real-world decision-making.

  • Qualitative studies on financial toxicity
  • Organisational culture and workforce productivity
  • Behavioural clustering in diabetes management
  • Discrete choice experiments on patient and provider preferences
Project showcase

Precision prevention and equitable access to diabetes technology.

Prevention Program with Precision to Stop Young-Onset Diabetes

Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust

Hong Kong's first large-scale precision prevention programme integrating biogenetic markers to identify individuals at high risk of young-onset diabetes (ages 18–44). Combines genetic testing, clinical risk assessment, structured intervention pathways and an embedded cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) to inform sustainable prevention policy.

  • Early identification of diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance
  • Prevention or delay of diabetes onset
  • Reduction of avoidable hospitalisation
  • Long-term cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) of precision screening and risk-stratified intervention
Visit programme

Jockey Club Support for Young People with Diabetes

Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust

Addresses inequity in access to advanced diabetes technology and education for young people aged 2–30. Includes up to two years of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) supply, insulin pump support for selected Type 1 patients, structured education and public awareness — with a rigorous cost-effectiveness analysis of CGM in young people with diabetes.

  • Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) supply
  • Insulin pump provision & consumables
  • Family empowerment & self-management training
  • CEA integrating glycaemic outcomes, HRQoL and long-term costs
Visit programme
Publications

Selected peer-reviewed publications.

A. Healthcare Costs & Economic Burden

  1. Zhang M, Du Y, Li AQY, Lau ESH, Wu H, Kong APS, Luk AOY, Ma RCW, Lui JNM. Healthcare cost trajectories before and after incident cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes: A latent class analysis. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2026.
  2. Du Y, Zhang M, Li AQY, Lau ESH, Wu H, Kong APS, Luk AOY, Ma RCW, Lui JNM. Differential healthcare costs in individuals with type 2 diabetes and incident chronic kidney disease in Hong Kong: A latent class trajectory analysis. Diabetologia. 2026;69(7):1792-1805.
  3. Wu H, Zhou H, Huang C, Yang A, Lau ESH, Zhang X, Fan B, Ma RCW, Kong APS, Lui JNM, et al. Population-level productivity-adjusted life years lost in individuals with type 2 diabetes in Hong Kong: A life table modelling study. Lancet Reg Health – West Pac. 2025.
  4. Ng MSN, Xu Z, Lui JNM, Chen J, Ho EHS, Chow YL, Miaskowski C, et al. Impacts of financial toxicity on patients receiving dialysis: An exploratory qualitative study. Kidney360. 2025;7(4):849.
  5. Lui JNM, Lau ESH, Li AQY, Zhang Y, Lim LL, Wong KTC, et al. Temporal incremental healthcare costs associated with complications in Hong Kong Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes: A prospective study in the JADE register. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2025;219:111961.
  6. Lui JNM, Williams C, Keng MJ, Hopewell JC, Sammons E, Chen F, et al. Impact of new cardiovascular events on quality of life and hospital costs in people with cardiovascular disease in the UK and US. J Am Heart Assoc. 2023;12(19):e030766.

B. Cost-Effectiveness & HTA

  1. Li AQY, Yarnoff B, Tam CHT, Chan JCN, Ma RCW, Lui JNM, et al. Cost-Effectiveness of NT-proBNP–Guided Cardiovascular Screening in Chinese Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: Real-World Evidence From the Hong Kong Diabetes Biobank. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2026.
  2. Lim LL, Lau ESH, Lui JNM, Ji L, Unnikrishnan AG, Sirinvaravong S, et al. Impact of simulated risk factor management on cardiovascular disease and costs in type 2 diabetes using the ABC model. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2026.
  3. Fedorov MS, Bansal A, Bradley G, Chong D, Nisar YB, Barasa E,… Lui JNM… et al. Cost-Effectiveness of a Target Point-of-Care Triage Test for Neonatal Sepsis in LMICs. Center for Global Development Working Paper 750. 2026.
  4. Yip BHK, Lui JNM, Yiu EHH, Tsang KP, Goldstein DA, Loong HHF, et al. Enhancing cost-effectiveness considerations in the adoption of new drugs in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Med J. 2025;31(4):312–315.

C. PROMs, Quality of Life & Productivity

  1. Lui JNM, Wong KTC, Lau ESH, Chan SCS, Wong NS, Zhang JYZ, Wai KM, et al. Work productivity, associated risk factors and costs on presenteeism and absenteeism in Chinese patients with young-onset type 2 diabetes in Hong Kong. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2026;28(3):1730-1740.
  2. Yeung YL, Lee KL, Lau ESH, Yung TF, Yang A, Wu H, Wong KTC, et al. Associations of comorbid depression with cardiovascular-renal events and all-cause mortality accounting for PROMs in T2D. Front Endocrinol. 2024;15:1284799.
  3. Lui JNM, Lau ESH, Yang A, Wu H, Fu A, et al. Temporal associations of diabetes-related complications with HRQoL decrements in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes. J Diabetes. 2024;16(6):e13503.
  4. Lui JNM, Andres EB, Johnston JM. How do organizational culture and leadership style affect nurse presenteeism and productivity? Int J Nurs Stud. 2024;152:104675.
  5. Lui JNM, Andres EB, Johnston JM. Does seasonal influenza-related hospital occupancy surge impact staff sickness presenteeism and productivity costs? Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(2):769.
  6. Lui JNM, Johnston JM. Working while sick: Validation of MPEPS-N. BMC Health Serv Res. 2019;19(1):542.
  7. Lui JNM, Johnston JM. Validation of the nurse leadership and organizational culture (N-LOC) questionnaire. BMC Health Serv Res. 2019;19(1):469.
  8. Lui JNM, Andres EB, Johnston JM. Presenteeism exposures and outcomes amongst hospital doctors and nurses: A systematic review. BMC Health Serv Res. 2018;18(1):985.

D. Risk Prediction & Precision Medicine

  1. Ma AKH, Tam CHT, Luk AOY, Wu H, Fan Y, Lau ESH, Huang MLH, et al. Validation of the ST1RE risk engine in Chinese with type 1 diabetes. J Diabetes Investig. 2026;17(7):1163-1171.
  2. Yue T, Zhang W, Ding Y, Zheng X, Ma Y, Chan JCN, Lau ESH, Lui JNM, et al. Precision phenotyping of type 2 diabetes in Chinese populations using a variational autoencoder-informed tree model. Nat Commun. 2026;17(1):1475.
  3. Luk AOY, O CK, Fan B, Lau ESH, Fan Y, Lim C, Lui JNM, Wong KTC, et al. Precision Medicine to Redefine Insulin Secretion and Monogenic Diabetes (PRISM). Diabetes Care. 2026;49(7):1202-1212.
  4. Ma RCW, Tam CHT, Hou Y, Lau ESH, Ozaki R, Lui JNM, Chow E, et al. NT-proBNP improves prediction of cardiorenal complications in type 2 diabetes: The Hong Kong Diabetes Biobank. Diabetologia. 2025;68(2):342-356.
  5. Lau ESH, Luk AOY, Lim LL, Wu H, Yang A, Kong APS, Ma RCW, Ozaki R, Lui JNM, et al. Development and validation of the Patient-Level Chinese Diabetes Outcome Model on long-term complications in T2D. Diabetes Care. 2025;48(4):579-587.
Grants & funding

Over HK$135 million in competitive and strategic funding.

Supporting large-scale modelling infrastructure, precision prevention and real-world evaluation initiatives.

01 · Major competitive grants
  • Using Data to Transform Diabetes Care and Patient Lives
    Research Grants Council Area of Excellence Scheme
    HK$72,878,000
  • Cost-Effectiveness of Traditional and Novel Lipid-Lowering Drugs (Bempedoic Acid and PCSK9 Inhibitors) in CVD Prevention in Diabetes
    Health and Medical Research Fund (HKSAR)
    HK$1,500,000
  • Long-Term Cost-Effectiveness of SGLT2 Inhibitors for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular-Renal Events in T2D — Value-Based Pricing
    General Research Fund (RGC)
    HK$1,116,715
  • Non-Steroidal MRAs, RAS Inhibitors and SGLT2i as Triple Therapy in T2D with CKD — CEA using Clinical Trials & Simulation
    Health and Medical Research Fund (HKSAR)
    HK$1,351,997
  • Impact of Diabetes-Related Complications on Long-Term Temporal Hospital Costs and QoL in Young-Onset Diabetes: A 12-Year Study
    General Research Fund (RGC)
    HK$573,333
02 · Strategic & programme grants
  • Prevention Program with Precision to Stop Young-Onset Diabetes (PPP-YOD)
    Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust
    HK$45,630,000
  • Improving Diabetes Care for Young Patients — Jockey Club Support for Young People with Diabetes (YDA)
    Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust
    HK$10,900,000
  • Health Economic Analysis on NT-proBNP-Guided Cardiovascular Risk Assessment in T2D
    Industry
    HK$300,000
03 · Conference & knowledge translation
  • Mount Hood Diabetes and Economic Simulation Modelling Conference 2024 — Hong Kong
    Professional Services Advancement Support Scheme
    HK$446,000
  • Croucher Foundation Sponsorship of Conferences, Workshops and Symposia (2024–2025)
    Croucher Foundation
    HK$250,000
The Chinese University of Hong KongCU Medicine · Faculty of Medicine, CUHKHong Kong Institute of Diabetes and Obesity