Top HEOR Trends

Knowing a treatment’s value helps with decisions about its price

Drug pricing continues to be a global issue in healthcare as concern over the impact of high prices grows. HEOR paints a more accurate picture of treatments, which is the foundation for making better decisions. Here's how HEOR helps provide information on the impact of price not only on patients but also on healthcare systems:

• Evaluating value — Determining the value of a drug by comparing its benefits (like improved health or reduced symptoms) to its costs. This involves looking at both the clinical effectiveness and the economic impact of the drug.
• Cost-effectiveness analysis — Conducting studies to see if a drug provides good value for the money spent, by assessing whether the health benefits of the drug justify its price compared to other available treatments.
• Budget impact analysis — Examining how a new drug will affect the overall healthcare budget, to help policymakers and insurers understand the financial implications of introducing the drug into the healthcare system.
• Comparative effectiveness research — Explores what treatments among the available options provide the best health outcomes for patients.
• Price setting and negotiations — By providing data that supports price setting and showing the economic value of a drug, HEOR helps inform pricing decisions during discussions between drug companies, insurers, and government agencies.
• Informing reimbursement decisions — HEOR helps determine whether a drug should be covered by a payer and at what price. This ensures that patients have access to effective treatments without overburdening the healthcare system.
• Transparency and accountability — HEOR promotes transparency by providing clear and evidence-based information about drug pricing. This helps build trust among patients, healthcare providers, and policymakers, ensuring that drug prices are fair and justified.

Benefits to the 3 core areas of pricing

With the power of HEOR, decision makers have the data and insights they need when tackling the 3 core areas of pricing:

• Informing pricing decisions — HEOR can provide the information needed to help payers make decisions about which treatments should be made available and at what price.
• Understanding “complete” costs of drugs — HEOR can provide valuable information on the true cost (or cost savings) of treatments that look at factors such as reduced hospitalizations.
• Improving pricing transparency — Insights from HEOR can help efforts to make drug and healthcare pricing more transparent.