Process evaluation of the Multi-Agency Advisory Service (MAAS) for AI and data-driven technologies in health and social care

What is the issue?

The Multi-Agency Advisory Service (MAAS) for AI and data-driven technologies in health and social care has been set up to provide information and support for innovators that develop technologies and health and care providers that adopt them.

MAAS is a collaboration between the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the Health Research Authority (HRA) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The goal of the MAAS is to support the UK in becoming a world-leading ecosystem for the development of AI and data-driven technologies in health and social care by helping to think through the regulatory and access pathway.

How are we helping?

RAND Europe has been commissioned to conduct a process evaluation of MAAS. This evaluation is designed to:

• Produce a shared understanding of the focus and goals of the service and the mechanisms through which it hopes to achieve impact;
• Provide insight into the needs and experiences of MAAS users (innovators and healthcare providers) and the areas where MAAS is expected to create the most value;
• Provide insight into the experience of MAAS collaborators and the extent to which MAAS has the capacities to deliver expected impacts;
• Identify key metrics that can be used to help collect data to demonstrate impact; and
• Provide the MAAS team with actionable feedback to help improve the service on an ongoing basis.

To do this, RAND Europe has:

• Worked with MAAS to develop a theory of change outlining the mechanisms by which MAAS expects to achieve impact;
• Reviewed data that can be used to understand MAAS’s impact and suggested ways to collect data going forward;
• Developed a maturity matrix to help MAAS assess the extent to which they have the capacities to deliver expected impacts;
• Interviewed MAAS partners to understand their ways of working and experiences; and
• Conducted a survey with potential MAAS users to understand their needs.

We will also interview developers of AI and data-driven technologies that have participated in beta testing of the MAAS website to understand the extent to which they think the website will impact their work and their ability to navigate the regulatory pathway.

This evaluation will help MAAS and relevant stakeholders improve the service. The evaluation will also identify ways to understand the impact that MAAS may have on developers and adopters of AI and other data-driven technologies in health and care that engage with the service.

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