ISPOR + HEOR: Making an Impact and Transforming Healthcare
Jan Elias Hansen, PhD, Vice President, Genentech, South San Francisco, CA and President (2022-2023), ISPOR, Lawrenceville, NJ, USA
It has been a great privilege and honor to serve as President of ISPOR in 2022-2023. Over the past year, ISPOR and its members have had increased relevance during a time when healthcare decision making around the world is rapidly changing and becoming more complex. I have been fortunate to see this growth and evolution and could not be prouder to be part of our Society!
As my term nears its close, I have reflected on the past year. In 2022, I shared with you the passion I have about making an IMPACT and how I believed (and still believe) that ISPOR and the discipline of HEOR can transform healthcare by:
• Engaging healthcare stakeholders;
• Applying HEOR to address challenges and pain points; and
• Proactively informing healthcare issues through the use of health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) data and approaches that are scientifically rigorous and sound
In the spirit of “continuous improvement”—where we celebrate what has worked and has been achieved, and are candid about where there is still more work to be done—I want to share with you my own “retrospective” on the past year.
Did we deliver impact by engaging healthcare stakeholders, applying HEOR to address challenges, and informing issues through use of HEOR and data approaches? The resounding answer to this is, “YES, we did!”
In terms of IMPACT, here are a few highlights and examples, including:
• Informing Regulatory Approval With Real-World Evidence in the United States. We are seeing noninterventional real-world data studies and registries being used to inform regulatory approvals in the oncology, neuroscience, and infectious disease areas, to name a few.
• Real-World Evidence (RWE) Supports Providing Access to Innovative Drug in Argentina. Beyond the United States, real-world data (RWD) were used in developing and implementing a performance-based risk-sharing agreement for patients with HR+ and HER2- advanced or metastatic breast cancer, thereby impacting patients’ access to novel treatments.
• Asia Chapter Members Involved in the Development of National Guidelines. ISPOR Chapters in India, New Zealand, and Thailand have been contributing expertise and directly engaging in the development of national guidelines for health technology assessment, pricing, reimbursement, and economic evaluations in their countries in the past year.
• ISPOR External Responses. ISPOR’s collective membership is also making an impact via responses to proposed guidelines and healthcare policies in both Europe and the United States. These activities demonstrate ISPOR’s growing influence and reach. Additionally, I’m particularly glad about the opportunity that ISPOR has had in “bringing to light” the HEOR discipline—and all of the scientifically sound and well-studied approaches—in its engagements with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in the United States pertaining to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
These are examples of great IMPACT from across the world from our membership, but we are only starting on our journey to collect and communicate them to all.
AMPLIFY HEOR is a multiyear initiative, unanimously approved and endorsed by the Board last year. I am proud of the critical progress we made on this initiative and am eager to see additional progress made as this initiative takes greater root and matures. It is exciting to share with you all that you will begin to see and be able to reference “The Impact of HEOR” case studies and stories (similar to those mentioned above) on ISPOR.org very soon!
And finally, as I think about the achievement that I was most proud to be part of because of the longstanding IMPACT it will have on ISPOR, it is the process that ISPOR’s Executive Search Committee and Board executed to identify and hire Rob Abbott as the next CEO and Executive Director of ISPOR. Rob is a highly qualified, innovative, collaborative leader who has the experience and passion to take ISPOR forward during this great time of evolution and rapid change across the healthcare landscape.
"Keep communicating about your work and research and use it to inform the healthcare policy and system debates that are happening in your part of the world each and every day."
In closing, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to the 2022-2023 ISPOR Board of Directors and ISPOR staff who have done an amazing job in guiding the Society through and beyond the pandemic. Of course, I offer sincere thanks to Nancy Berg, who expertly led ISPOR for the past 8 years and who is now enjoying a well-deserved retirement. Congratulations to the newly elected Board members, who I know will significantly contribute to the Society.
And last, but certainly not least, thanks to you—ISPOR’s members. Thank you for your commitment to ISPOR and the discipline of HEOR. Continue to support and engage one another by leveraging each other’s HEOR expertise and the wealth of ISPOR resources available to you! Keep communicating about your work and research and use it to inform the healthcare policy and system debates that are happening in your part of the world each and every day.
Keep making an impact!
