Joe Caputo, President, ISPOR Singapore Chapter
Dr. Viva Ma, Immediate Past President, ISPOR Singapore Chapter
The use of patient reported outcomes (PROs) and more specifically, health-related quality of life (QOL), is recommended by many Health Technology Assessment (HTA) agencies worldwide as a means of measuring patient benefit. A wide range of QOL measures can be used, either generic or condition-specific. Generic measures aim to provide an overall picture of the patient’s QOL and may be applied across all health conditions. In contrast, condition-specific measures focus more specifically on the health condition that the patient is experiencing.
As HTA becomes more broadly adopted in the Asia Pacific region, it is critical for both public and private sector HEOR professionals to understand how health-related quality of life is assessed.
‘How to collect and use QOL data for HTA’ was the subject of the latest in a series of seminars organized by ISPOR Singapore Chapter, and co-hosted by the Singapore Centre for Innovation in Healthcare (CIH). The seminar was delivered by Dr Luo Nan, Domain Leader in Health Systems & Behavioural Sciences and Associate Professor at Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health in Singapore. Dr Luo Nan’s key expertise includes instrument development and assessment, having authored and co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed research papers. Dr Luo Nan is also a member of the EuroQol Group and the editorial board of several peer-reviewed journals.
The hybrid event, held in-person and online on June 17th 2022, was attended by over 30 participants from a range of backgrounds including industry, consulting, academia and government, and included attendees from Singapore, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia.
The seminar covered a wide range of topics related to the collection and use of QOL in HTA, including an overview of the methods and instruments in quality of life research for researchers and practitioners of HTA, measurement and valuation of health-related quality of life, as well as collection and use of such data for model-based economic evaluation. Local issues and challenges in QOL research were also discussed.
Feedback from participants was extremely positive –
“The workshop was useful for building a broad understanding of QOL measurement, valuation and data collection methods. It had a great balance between introductory content and latest development in QOL assessment methodology catered to audience from different backgrounds.”
“There is a strong element of local relevance as Prof. Luo and attendees had opportunities to exchange thoughts on practical topics around QOL measures for HTA in Singapore.”
Singapore ISPOR Chapter would like to thank Dr. Luo Nan for giving the seminar, CIH for co-hosting and providing the venue for the event, and all those that participated in this interesting seminar.