Seeing ISPOR—and HEOR—With New Eyes
Rob Abbott, ISPOR CEO and Executive Director
The French novelist, Marcel Proust, famously said “the real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” I’ve been thinking about this a good deal since taking the helm of ISPOR on March 13, 2023. I feel very fortunate indeed to have inherited an organization of uncommon strength—in products, services, and especially, in people. The Board, the staff, and the members are so passionate about our vision and mission, and equally, so caring of one another. A good deal of credit here must be paid to my predecessor, Nancy Berg, who guided ISPOR for 8 years and was sensitive to the visible and less visible practices that can come together to create something special. This work, and the foundation of trust that it represents, now gives us opportunity. An opportunity to see ISPOR’s role in the world with new eyes. Let me explain.
The COVID-19 pandemic overturned many assumptions about how we live, work, and play together. Public health measures such as wearing face masks, working remotely, carrying a vaccine “passport” or QR code, social distancing, and avoiding indoor gatherings became ingrained in the culture. The word “hybrid” is now commonly used to denote a combination of in-person and virtual engagement with life. At the same time, the healthcare landscape has changed. Some of this was motivated, or at least accelerated, by the pandemic, but much of it was well underway prior to 2020 and simply expressed itself in a more obvious way in the past 3 years. The digital health transformation is perhaps the most extravagant example of change in this regard. It is now widely accepted that digital capabilities are fundamentally important to health systems seeking to prioritize convenience and access to care for patients. It should also be acknowledged that health systems in many parts of the world were facing significant structural challenges prepandemic, including underfunded primary and social care, workforce shortages, and inequities in access to care.
"We are not simply tracking the major trends that affect healthcare decision making, but we are actively engaged in shaping the conversation about these trends."
ISPOR, as the leading professional society in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), has been attuned to many of these changes and has taken steps to ensure that we are not simply tracking the major trends that affect healthcare decision making, but that we are also actively engaged in shaping the conversation about these trends. A good example is our work on real-world evidence (RWE). It is well-known that RWE can offer large sample sizes that enable analysis of subpopulations and less-common effects, and equally, that it can provide a representation of real-world practice and behaviors—all of which are difficult to achieve with randomized clinical trials. What is less well-known, and what is increasingly driving ISPOR’s thought and action in RWE, is a fuller articulation of the many ways in which it might be expressed—in regulatory decision making, in medical device assessment, in patient-centered RWE, and so on. It is also important for us to understand the relationships between RWE and real-world data (RWD). And so it is that we are exploring causal inference in RWD, genomic RWD, and so on. These are not simply esoteric or academic diversions; this work lies at the heart of our efforts to better understand innovative approaches to evidence generation; causal inference; the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence to patient care; the role of RWE in digital health delivery; and many other aspects of healthcare that lead to better outcomes for patients and healthcare providers.
The RWE example that I’ve just discussed is reflective of the tremendous opportunity I see for ISPOR to “raise the height of its radar” and become more centrally involved in discussions about the path healthcare is traveling through time and how a more deeply embedded commitment to HEOR can improve healthcare decisions globally. This is akin to “having new eyes” for HEOR. To those who are entrenched in HEOR work, its value is—and is seen to be—a given. I want to ensure that ISPOR continues to stay close to this core constituency while simultaneously growing its reach. We will continue to define best research practices in the science of HEOR and promote its use to improve healthcare decision making globally. This will require us to accelerate stakeholder engagement, broaden our member involvement efforts, and double down on our efforts to communicate the impact—the value—of HEOR in research and decision making.
"As a community, we need to reach beyond our core membership and show healthcare decision makers and decision shapers across the globe that HEOR provides a framework that can both clearly define the issue at hand and generate and assemble the relevant evidence to inform and guide decisions in this rapidly evolving space."
The complexity of healthcare decision making continues to intensify across the globe. Innovative treatments based on precision or personalized medicine are no longer a distant thing on the horizon; they are here now. However, such novel therapies do not fit easily into traditional value assessment frameworks and processes—and therefore the healthcare budget-planning process. This is where ISPOR and HEOR have much to contribute. As a community we need to reach beyond our core membership and show healthcare decision makers and decision shapers across the globe that HEOR provides a framework that can both clearly define the issue at hand (eg, drug pricing, device assessment, and so on) and generate and assemble the relevant evidence to inform and guide decisions in this rapidly evolving space.
As your new CEO, I bring “new eyes” to this important topic and look forward to working with you to further grow ISPOR’s profile and impact.
