From Research to Policy to Patients: Measuring the Impact of Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR)

ISSUE: Organisations working in the field of HEOR, such as ISPOR and its members, make tremendous efforts to achieve a positive impact on health policy and decision-making. But they are grappling with the challenge of answering a critically important question: what is the real-world impact of HEOR? And how can we measure this contemporaneously? As the field evolves and decisions are made about whether and how much to fund HEOR efforts, measuring and tracking our impact is essential. In this panel, we will give case examples of measuring HEOR impact, examples of some cutting-edge approaches such as AI-driven insights, and how these data can help inform approaches for HEOR to lead change in health policy worldwide.

OVERVIEW: Jan Hansen (Genentech) will moderate this session and set the context by explaining global shifts in HEOR organization and investment. Rob Abbott (ISPOR) will present the importance of measuring HEOR’s impact in the context of ISPOR’s Strategic Plan 2030.Laura Pizzi (ISPOR) will discuss the impact measures that ISPOR currently uses, and opportunities to improve them. Lotte Steuten (OHE) will discuss ways to measure the impact of HEOR on methods guidelines, healthcare policies and patients, using the example of an analysis with BMJ Impact Analytics that tracked the trajectory and use of HEOR research in real-time. James Chambers (Tufts University) will discuss the impact of HEOR on coverage decisions using data from the Tufts Medical Center Specialty Drug Evidence and Coverage (SPEC) Database. Drawing on these examples, panellists will debate the approaches to HEOR impact measurement, including the role of data-driven methods and AI-tools, and establish a call to action for the use of these measures as well as development of new measures.