PURPOSE: The objectives of this workshop are to introduce the concepts of open source models (OSMs) to the audience, to discuss the motivations and challenges in developing OSMs, and to demonstrate how to share them with key stakeholders.

DESCRIPTION: Health-economic models are routinely developed to inform health policy decisions. However, they are often considered to be black boxes because the reporting of the models’ structure, assumptions, input data, and source code lacks transparency. Open source models (OSMs), health-economic models freely available for anyone to use, review, and modify, have been proposed as a solution to increase health-economic models’ transparency.

This workshop will start with an introduction of the concepts of OSMs. The importance of certain aspects of surrounding the development, maintenance, and use of OSMs will also be illustrated based on results of a recent survey on OSMs amongst ISPOR members (10 minutes, Pouwels). An example of a developed OSM in R, comparing anticoagulants for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation, will be showcased. Challenges associated with making health-economic models open source, such as greater scrutiny and possible misuse by vested interests, will be discussed (13 minutes, Thom). The workshop will continue by elaborating on the “why and when” to develop OSMs based on factors such as the intended audience, complexity of the model, and considering commercial sensitivity(13 minutes, Hart). Afterwards, ways to make HE models accessible for a broader audience will be presented based on the experiences of the Peer Models Network (13 minutes, Harvard). Dr. Harvard will provide a tour of the Peer Models Network website, Twitter, and YouTube pages, and present the results of the Peer Models Network evaluation survey. The session will be concluded by a discussion between audience and panel members (11 minutes). This session may benefit modellers and policymakers intending to develop, commission, or use OSMs.