The point of this HW is for you to understand how a Markov model works – its structure and the relationship between its various elements – health states, utilities, costs and transition probabilities. Play around with changing different input values and observe how those changes affect, not only the final costs, QALYs and ICER, but the distribution of patients across health states over time (see rows 25 and below on the template). When you change input values, does the model respond as you would expect? Explore.
For “Owns”: If your project lends itself to a Markov, proceed with the HW as given in the assignment. I do not expect you to complete all transition probabilities, health-state utilities and costs based on a careful review of the literature. Use whatever relevant estimates you already have. For the rest, put in plausible guesstimates. If your “own” does not lend itself to a Markov, state why, and proceed according to the sane instructions that are pertinent to the “non-Owns”.
For “Non-Owns”: As stated in the HW assignment, choose a topic that interests you – it doesn’t have to be in your area of specialty. Using the template, add plausible “guesstimates” for transition probabilities, health-state utilities and costs, anywhere that you don't have actual values from the literature or other sources.
Again, the point is not to have a publishable Markov, but to gain familiarity with a Markov’s strengths, applicability and structure.
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Elliot