Miscellaneous
Critical appraisal, assignment of a grade for methodological quality of individual studies, and subsequent grading a body of evidence addressing a specific question are essential activities of conducting comparative effectiveness reviews.
Comments on the draft handbook from from Bryan Luce, of United BioSource Corp.
Remember, know WHAT you are measuring and WHY you are measuring it. (Source: InPharm, July 20, 2011)
AstraZeneca using ePRO in clinical trials and with preferred providers. (Source:FierceBiotechIT newsletter April 2011)
This article summarizes findings of a report funded by The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System, including 15 federal policy options and their potential for lowering health spending are examined. (Source: Brian Ahier, Health IT & Healthcare Reform, Nov 21, 2009)
Global information source on bioethics news and issues
This is the second in series based on the OHE seminar on biosimilars and summarises the remarks of Prof Bengt Jönsson of the Stockholm School of Economics
Welcome to the CEA Registry Blog by the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health, Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA. We have developed this blog to encourage interactivity among our users by allowing readers to post comments and questions about the Registry. The forum of this blog ranges from posting brief online updates to more in-depth content, enabling our users to be in-the-know about new developments and resources. We invite all comments and suggestions.
Overview of Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) and Risk Management Plans (RMPs) in US and Europe.
An AMCP-sponsored review of the published literature concludes there is strong evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of managed care pharmacy tools in achieving intended outcomes, such as increased utilization of preferred drugs, formulary compliance and decreased prescription drug spending.
NPC asked the panelists for their insights on the challenges of developing and using evidence
Consumer Reports publication "Best Buy Drugs (or Best Drugs For Less)" which rates 200 Rx and OTC drugs on efficacy and cost, using an "unbiased review of the best scientific evidence available". They work closely with experts at Drug Effectiveness Review Project, part of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.
Information on the threshold values used in CHOICE analyses for the relative CE of an intervention in current international dollars of 2000 for 14 countries. Following the recommendations of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, CHOICE uses gross domestic product (GDP) as a readily available indicator to derive the following three categories of cost-effectiveness: Highly cost-effective (less than GDP per capita); Cost-effective (between one and three times GDP per capita); and Not cost-effective (more than three times GDP per capita)
A RAND Corp. study suggests that the estimated the savings from electronic medical records would be about $77 billion a year. But, a new Harvard study suggests all of these claims are simply wrong. Health “information technology,” the research concluded, has yielded neither substantial efficiencies nor any real savings at the U.S. hospitals that today use various forms of it.(Source: Emily Badger, Miller-McCune, Nov. 23, 2009)
Provides data on regional costs and spending for healthcare. Website provides access to all Atlas reports and publications, as well as interactive tools to allow visitors to view specific regions and perform their own comparisons and analyses.
Wikipedia listing. Needs input. Also help create a Wikipedia "health outcomes" listing. There isn't one! Email patti@healtheconomics.com if you want to work together to do this.
Health economics is a sub-discipline of economics and studies the allocation of scarce resources among alternative healthcare programs or strategies for the promotion, maintenance and improvement of health. Health economics studies how healthcare and health-related services, their costs and benefits, and health itself are distributed among individuals and groups in society. Health economics is concerned with the formal analysis of direct and indirect costs and benefits that are a consequence of a health care intervention, program or strategy. The science of health economics has significantly progressed in recent years. Although a lot of disagreement among health economists existed in the early nineties, over the recent years more consensus on methodology has been reached. This development resulted in a standardised approach, allowing valid comparisons of studies in different fields of health care and across countries. The main study types used in economic evaluation are cost-effectiveness (CEA) and cost-utility analysis (CUA) in which the incremental net costs of a programme are related to the health benefits.
Emphasis on understanding the comparative effectiveness of health care interventions has increased attention on the applicability of research. As a result, systematic reviews aiming to inform clinical practice have expanded beyond randomized controlled trials, which have limited generalizability, to include nonrandomized studies
Listing of hundreds of recruiters and headhunters with names, firms, postal, phone, fax, web and e-mail addresses. Time-saver for job hunters.
Academic–industry relationships have both benefits and risks. Whether through direct sponsorship of research or through advising, such relationships facilitate the discovery of new drugs, devices, and other medical innovations that often result in the improved diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of human disease. (Source: NEJM, July 14, 2010, Authors: Eric G. Campbell, Ph.D, and Darren E. Zinner, Ph.D)
National Academic Mailing List Service, known as 'JISCMail', is a service designed specifically for the further and higher education and research communities and is one of a number of services provided by JISC Advance therefore making it the foremost strategic collaboration tool within the academic community.
Software tool developed to identify the disease burden of any population. It predicts the incidence of disease for any population of members, benchmarks the predicted incidence against national standards, and identifies outliers from a disease frequency and a cost perspective.
Pharmaceutical companies spent $57.5 billion on pharmaceutical promotion in the United States in 2004. The industry claims that promotion provides scientific and educational information to physicians. While some evidence indicates that promotion may adversely influence prescribing, physicians hold a wide range of views about pharmaceutical promotion.
The report recommends focusing more on learning outcomes, incorporating more clinical experiences early in medical education, and offering more opportunities for medical students to train in teams with nursing and other health-care students. The report also calls for a more individualized approach to medical education and training.
On line daily news with special areas devoted to medical, nursing, pharmaceutical companies, consumers, etc.
Performs customized calculations of the value of new drugs, medical devices and other therapeutic interventions. The Model links cost and utilization data from large patient care databases to published clinical data specific to new drugs, classes of drugs, diagnostics, medical technologies, or a combination of drugs and technologies used to treat a specific disease.
Very nice compilation of relevant resources.
Learn how to maximize mature brand uptake in an emerging market, complete with numerous case studies and market data. Download this presentation by Aleksandra Mislorowska, Merck Serono’s Emerging Markets Business Director.
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is a codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the Executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government.
Good Reprint Practices for the Distribution of Medical Journal Articles and Medical or Scientific Reference Publications on Unapproved New Uses of Approved Drugs and Approved or Cleared Medical Devices
A popular pharma BLOG that is read by a lot of people again and again published content from such studies on Avandia and even went as far as to interview a former FDA official causing a lot of damage to the brand at a time when a scientific approach was needed.
Financial Modeler from Thomson Reuters helps you easily and confidently forecast future expenditures, establish a budget, and track against that budget throughout the year. It also supports the annual premium and contribution rate-setting process
A very useful interactive tutorial.
France and Italy announced plans to reduce healthcare spending, with a particular focus on cutting drug prices in a bid to close budget shortfalls. France plans to reduce drug prices by 100 million euros ($122 million) this year, while the Italian government aims to cut off-patent generic drug prices by 12.5 percent from June 2010 until the end of the year. (Source: FirstWord)
Healthcare announced it will expand its collaboration with The Health Management Academy over the next 5 years to implement best practices to lower healthcare costs and improve outcomes. (Source: WSJ Digital Network)
A joint effort by GE and Thomson Reuters will allow researchers to view both health care claims and clinical data to see how treatments will affect various patient populations. (Source: eWeek.com)
Patients with adult onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were identified in the National Patient Register and the Swedish Rheumatology Quality Register, including the ARTIS cohort of patients exposed to biological agents
Is there a "right way" to get physician buy-in of pay-for-performance (P4P)? What makes for an effective outcomes-based incentive program? Listen to this executive-level teleconference on CD-ROM. This special program was sponsored by Managed Care Information Center. This conference was held on July 28, 2005. Cost $149 for CD + materials
Pharmacoeconomics and health outcomes research are playing an increasingly important role in informing clinical development and market access decisions of new innovative medicines. Both disciplines are dealing with the evaluation of the costs and outcomes of healthcare interventions and can be considered as two branches of the same “value for money” tree. (Source: Frontiers Reviews, Dominique J. Dubose)
Based on data from the Community Tracking Study, the authors found that MCOs were becoming less restrictive over time in terms of limiting provider services, and were more like non-managed care organizations. (Source: International Journal of Health Care Finance and Economics, March 2010)
Free, on-line query system based on data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). It provides access to health statistics and information on hospital inpatient and emergency department utilization.
A good list of resources available on the web, compiled by a health economic researcher from Germany.
There are more than 300 members now from industry, government and academia. It's a growing platform to share your news, exchange our ideas and request information
In this issue we report the findings of four pieces of research. The first looks at the link between educational attainment and type of schooling on health and health-related behaviours later in life, focussing particularly on the type of school attended. The second reports on a review of international evidence of integrating the financing of health and social care. Next we look at a new project, the aim of which will be to improve the empirical basis for the NICE cost-effectiveness threshold. Last, we report on the conclusions of an International Working Group for Health Technology Assessment Advancement which reviewed the terminology used by experts and policy makers across the world. We highlight new research which has recently started and give details of the publications and activities of CHE members (Source: CHE Newsletter Issue 9, Univeersity of York).
Primer (and sales tool) covering the use of HEOR
Are you involved in P4P? Healthresourcesonline.com offers a virtual library of executive level P4P including audio conferences, CD-Roms, and a variety of special reports and the industry publication of record: Pay-for-Performance Reporter.
Is unneeded surgery costing NHS millions? The Health Service Journal of the UK says "yes". Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are required and public hospital ratings based on PROMs available by November 2009.
Links to associations and alliances, foundations and organizations, research and policy groups.
"Healthcare 411" is a new series produced by AHRQ with podcasts and other information to assist consumers with taking charge of the quality of their healthcare.
Health information site that offers links to sites in all categories of health.
View and print reports based on your specific requirements. With HospitalBenchmarks.com you have the ability to search on hospital name, hospital provider number, state, city, zip code, or a combination of any of these terms
In this episode, Dr. Ball and Mr. LeVine discuss the importance of patient feedback — how to obtain it and how it can be used to better connect brands with patients and physicians in a practice setting.
This is an often asked about and largely misunderstood topic amongst professionals at all levels. There are two critical times in everybody's career when compensation is a very important topic for discussion - when you have your performance review and when you are interviewing for a new position.
By Alicia White. you need to interrogate the article to see what it says about the research it is reporting on. Bazian (the company I work for) has interrogated hundreds of articles for "Behind The Headlines" on the NHS health news Web site, and we’ve developed the following questions to help you figure out which articles you’re going to believe, and which you’re not.
Great educational tool
Great educational tool
Self study education course from National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR). This module describes the definition and purpose of economic evaluation studies; outlines and highlights the characteristics of the health economic evaluation literature; outlines an effective approach to identifying and retrieving economic evaluation studies from bibliographic databases; considers how economic evaluation studies are indexed in the two major bibliographic databases, MEDLINE and EMBASE
Manufacturers invest heavily into the development of products that deliver more effective treatment and many invest in the development and communication of a payer value proposition during the launch phase. (Source: Webinar, Xcenda, March 25, 2010)
Presentation at ISPOR Europe, Nov. 2011, by James S. Anderson, MA, MBA, European Partnerships Director, Government Affairs, Public Policy and Patient Advocacy, GlaxoSmithKline, Brentford, UK
IHE is a Canadian based not-for-profit organization committed to producing, gathering, and disseminating health research findings from health economics, health policy, health technology assessment and comparative effectiveness to improve the delivery of health care
In today's challenging business enviornment, many innovative life sciences companies are raising questions about the return on investment of internal resources and external expenditures.These questions are now being asked of Medical Affairs leaders. It is difficult to measure Medical Affairs ‘value’ in this way, and we see many instances of Medical Affairs investments being constrained in light of general budgetary pressures. (Source: InPharm Webcast, November 8, 2010)
Senator Charles E. Grassley wrote to 10 top medical schools Tuesday to ask what they are doing about professors who put their names on ghostwritten articles in medical journals — and why that practice was any different from plagiarism by students.(Source: NYT, Nov. 17.2009)
Learning resource for professionals interested in Medicare Advantage, Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, and related programs.
Internet-based strategic planning and marketing solution that delivers detailed market analyses and projections to help you make better business decisions.
MEPSnet is a collection of analytical tools that operate on Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data in the Household and Insurance component. Available online, MEPSnet is quick and easy to use, allowing even novice users the ability to generate national estimates in a few seconds.
Managing drug safety and developing drug safety systems is an ongoing, critically important challenge for all involved in manufacturing drugs, regulating drug use, pre- scribing drugs, dispensing drugs, and consuming drugs. Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) are the newest tool of the FDA to help manage and ensure safe drug use.(Source:Philip E. Johnson, MS, RPh; George Dahlman; Kirby Eng, RPh;et.al)
NHLBI Funds $34M for research and training Centers aimed at prevention and treatment of chronic diseases in developing countries and collaborates with UnitedHealth Group's Chronic Disease Initiative. Countries include Bangladesh, China, India, Argentina, Peru, and South Africa. UHC also funding research in Tunisia, Finland, and Mexico.
The Zitter Group’s new Managed Care Oncology Index focuses on both payers and oncology practices, making it the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the major trends underway in the evolving payer market for oncology. This unique study offers pharmaceutical marketers insight into trends in physician reimbursement, product selection, practice profitability, patient access, and how managed care organizations plan to pursue oncology cost-cutting.
Great short primer including definitions, for students, educators, and media personnel.
The Affordable Care Act broadly outlines a pathway for biosimilars approval, but many details are still undefined. Our complimentary white paper delivers an executive analysis of the key policy issues related to bringing a biologic to market as well as the reimbursement and safety considerations that are critical to maximizing product uptake.
Using clinical analytics to lower costs emerged as the top driver for payers, according to an HIMSS Analytics whitepaper. The research is the second annual study conducted by HIMSS Analytics and sponsored by Anvita Health. It was created from a series of focus groups and one-on-one interviews with chief medical officers and chief medical information officers.(Source:Managed Healthcare Executive E-News, Jamie J. Gooch)
SERMO introduces a new social media offering that brings physicians together from across the country to exchange business advice, earn CME credits on practice management topics, and provide quality patient care in a system that desperately needs reform. (Source: Reuters)
Project financed by the European Commission. Main objectives were:
To identify and analyse barriers of access to health care services which are faced by vulnerable groups in society; To review the various policy initiatives taken by the Member States to realise the objective of access for all; To highlight and describe the most effective policy measures to ensure access to health care to the most disadvantaged; To help to determine the extent to which increased access to and quality of health care services can make to combating poverty and social exclusion and increasing social inclusion.
The statement's provocative recommendations include the imposition of requirements that (a) the off-label drug should be "irreplaceable for treatment of the patient," that is, no drug labeled for the indication is available; (b) the off-label use must be "submitted and approved by the hospital's pharmacotherapy committee and hospital ethics committee" except in emergency situations; and (c) informed consent for off-label use must be obtained from the patient or a legal representative.
(Source: JMCP October 2010 Volume 16 Issue 8, Authors: Kathleen A. Fairman, MA, and Frederic R. Curtiss, PhD, RPh, CEBS)
States such as Pennsylvania and South Carolina are funding this “academic detailing” as a tool to reduce those governments’ prescription drug-related health care expenses. (Source: Forbes, 4/25/11)
REMS for drug products may affect marketing and access.
Global hub of science research
Published in J Health Economics. Partial expected value of perfect information (EVPI) quantifies the value of removing uncertainty about unknown parameters in a decision model. EVPIs can be computed via Monte Carlo methods. An outer loop samples values of the parameters of interest, and an inner loop samples the remaining parameters from their conditional distribution. This nested Monte Carlo approach can result in biased estimates if small numbers of inner samples are used and can require a large number of model runs for accurate partial EVPI estimates.
Published in J Health Economics. Partial expected value of perfect information (EVPI) quantifies the value of removing uncertainty about unknown parameters in a decision model. EVPIs can be computed via Monte Carlo methods. An outer loop samples values of the parameters of interest, and an inner loop samples the remaining parameters from their conditional distribution. This nested Monte Carlo approach can result in biased estimates if small numbers of inner samples are used and can require a large number of model runs for accurate partial EVPI estimates.
PDF by Oakley et al. Partial expected value of perfect information (EVPI) quantifies the value of removing uncertainty about unknown parameters in a decision model. EVPIs can be computed via Monte Carlo methods. This nested Monte Carlo approach can result in biased estimates if small numbers of inner samples are used and can require a large number of model runs for accurate partial EVPI estimates.
PDF by Oakley et al. Partial expected value of perfect information (EVPI) quantifies the value of removing uncertainty about unknown parameters in a decision model. EVPIs can be computed via Monte Carlo methods. This nested Monte Carlo approach can result in biased estimates if small numbers of inner samples are used and can require a large number of model runs for accurate partial EVPI estimates.
Advisory Panel Report from ISPOR
Advisory Panel Report from ISPOR
Self study education course from National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR). Goals of module include: 1) the significant trends in spending, outcomes, and access within the U.S. health care system; and; 2)the main sources of literature and data relating to health care financing in the U.S.
Self study education course from National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR). Goals of module include: 1) the significant trends in spending, outcomes, and access within the U.S. health care system; and; 2)the main sources of literature and data relating to health care financing in the U.S.
Self study education course from National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR). Goals of module include: 1) the significant trends in spending, outcomes, and access within the U.S. health care system; and; 2)the main sources of literature and data relating to health care financing in the U.S.
Prepared for Congress December 2007.
Prepared for Congress December 2007.
Prepared for Congress December 2007.
Updates annual drug development expenditures. Average expenditure on drugs in human clinical trials is around $27m per year, with $17m per year on drugs in Phase I, $34m on drugs in Phase II and $27m per year on drugs in Phase III of the human clinical trials. (Source: Christopher Paul Adams and Van Vu Brantner, Health Economics, Feb. 26 2009)
Updates annual drug development expenditures. Average expenditure on drugs in human clinical trials is around $27m per year, with $17m per year on drugs in Phase I, $34m on drugs in Phase II and $27m per year on drugs in Phase III of the human clinical trials. (Source: Christopher Paul Adams and Van Vu Brantner, Health Economics, Feb. 26 2009)
Many clinical trial reports were missing clear analyses of drug side effects. (Source: John Gever, MedPage Today, 2009)
Report from Roundtable of managed care experts and pharmacoeconomists on "Overcoming Barriers to Incorporating Real-World Data into Healthcare Decision-making" is summarized in recent article by Brixner et al. in Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy. Includes key recommendations. Fairman and Curtis follow with an editorial on challenges of editing these types of studies for JMCP. If you do research with these type of data, this is a must-read.
Report from Roundtable of managed care experts and pharmacoeconomists on "Overcoming Barriers to Incorporating Real-World Data into Healthcare Decision-making" is summarized in recent article by Brixner et al. in Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy. Includes key recommendations. Fairman and Curtis follow with an editorial on challenges of editing these types of studies for JMCP. If you do research with these type of data, this is a must-read.
Statistics Tutoring Service is a great service. Get help in introductory statistics. Simply submit your query online by 11pm Est Sunday - Thursday and in most cases you will have an answer by the next morning.leading provider of professional development courses in statistics.
Statistics Tutoring Service is a great service. Get help in introductory statistics. Simply submit your query online by 11pm Est Sunday - Thursday and in most cases you will have an answer by the next morning.leading provider of professional development courses in statistics.
Graphic showing number needed to treat to get a benefit for various drugs
Best supply of free stats programs you'll ever find.
To calculate Sensitivity, Specificity, NPV, Relative Risk, Absolute Risk, Number Needed to Treat, Odds Ratio, Relative Risk Reduction, Absolute Risk Reduction,
This downloadable statistics package can be placed on a local machine and then used to calculate odds ratios, relative risk and other clinical measures such as Numbers Needed to Treat. It includes exact confidence intervals for all of these which is very rare.
AHRQ releases Summary Health IT Portfolio 2008, an overview of nearly 150 summaries by strategic and business goals, project milestones, and other characteristics (Source: AHRQ, October 2009)
Suzanne Bohen is an experienced search consultant with Emerson Professionals. Emerson is a boutique search firm with practices in the medical device, academic, and healthcare vertical markets. Suzanne focuses on reimbursement and health economics professionals in the medical device industry. To contact, email Suzanne@emersonprof.com.
A new study funded by the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) shows that pharmacogenomics -- the field of scientific research focused on learning how genetic profiles predict the body's response to medicines - has the potential to lead to higher levels of research and development (R&D) investment and an increased pace of pharmaceutical innovation, offering substantial benefits for patients. (Source: PharmacoEconomics, Volume 27, Number 5, 5 May 2009 , pp. 355-363(9))
The report addresses use of HTA in establishing health care policy in Asia.
From The Zitter Group, published twice a year. This link takes you to Zitter's website to gain more info on the syndicated bi-annual report.
Remember the 4-P's of Marketing (product, placement, price, and promotion)? PharmExec.Com suggests these have been replaced by 4 New P's: Predictive Modeling, Personalization, Peer-to-Peer, Participation.
Management report that assesses the impact that pharmacoeconomics has had on the pharmaceutical industry and shows how companies can utilize pharmacoeconomic modeling to gain a competitive edge. This report examines the most commonly used pharmacoeconomic methodologies with respect to both study perspective and the range of R&D costs that can be analyzed.
BBC Documentary "The Price of Life" discussed NICE and is causing much controversy.
Delivers access to medical directors and pharmacy directors from payors for healthcare services companies, information technology providers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and other companies offering products and services of interest to our advisors. TPG-NPRT provides interactive educational programs where decision makers meet.
The number of drugs entering the US pharmaceutical market is at a low point. At the same time, demand for innovative therapeutic alternatives has been rising in numerous fields, including antibiotics for multidrug resistant organisms and drugs for tropical diseases prevalent in low-income settings. The growing gap between the need for new pharmaceuticals and their development and approval for use in clinical care has drawn the attention of policymakers from diverse sources, including academia, industry, and government. (Source:NEJM 2010, Vol. 363, No. 19, pp. 1855-1862)
Despite billions in research investment and consistently high revenues for the pharma industry, the number of new drugs emerging in the U.S. pharmaceutical market is at a low point. FDA approved an average of 22.6 new drugs and biologics per year from 2005 through 2009, down from 37.2 a decade earlier (1995 through 1999). (Source: NEJM, Nov.2010)
Interview covering trends and major challenges in HEOR.
OHE's latest Research Paper reports on a project meant to establish how much referrers in the NHS value NCAS's services and the relative value placed on different attributes and types of service. (Source: OHE News)
Variations in health care in the NHS are a persistent and ubiquitous problem. But which variations are acceptable or warranted – for example, variations driven by clinical need and informed patient choice – and which are not? The important question is how to promote ‘good’ variation and minimise ‘bad’ variation. (Source: The King's Fund, Author: Appleby, et.al.)
AJMC article "Voice Response System to Measure Healthcare Costs: A STAR*D Report" by Kashner, et al.
In this paper, we explore the possible consequences that pricing and reimbursement regulation may have on pharmaceutical innovation. We first investigate qualitatively how a pharmaceutical firm is likely to strategically respond in its R&D activities to pricing and reimbursement regulation. We then quantitatively evaluate these effects in the context of a calibrated decision-theoretic model of drug development in which a pharmaceutical firm is forward-looking and takes future pricing regulation into account in making current development decisions. Source: Hans Friederiszick, ESMT CA Nicola Tosini, ESMT CA Francis de Ve´ricourt, ESMT Simon Wakeman, ESMT
WHO-CHOICE reports the costs and effects of a wide range of health interventions in the 14 epidemiological sub-regions (world divisions made based on geographical location and epidemiological profiles). The results of these cost-effectiveness analysis are assembled in regional databases, which policy makers can adapt to their specific country setting.
Good definition, examples, links
