Newswise — Milan, Italy—November 10, 2015—The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) 18th Annual European Congress Workshop 12 focused on the issue of, “Optimizing Patient Involvement in Payer Health Care Decisions to Access New Therapies.” This workshop was held this morning at the MiCo – Milano Congressi in Milan, Italy.

The workshop was led by discussion leaders:- Don Husereau, Senior Associate, Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, Canada- Nicola Bedlington, Director, European Patients' Forum, Brussels, Belgium- Michael Barry, MD, PhD, Clinical Director, National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, Dublin, Ireland- Veronica Foote, BA, Head of Patient Relations & External Communications, Novartis Oncology Europe, Surrey, UK

As patients are becoming increasingly involved with the use of evidence to support payer decisions for new therapies and technologies, interest in patients’ participation in health care decision making is growing. The workshop explored how all stakeholders including patients, HTA, payers, and industry can work together to optimize patient involvement in decisions, based on work conducted by the ISPOR European Patient Representatives Roundtable.

Released presentations from the ISPOR 18th Annual European Congress are available at http://www.ispor.org/Event/ReleasedPresentations/2015Milan. ISPOR’s 18th Annual European Congress may be followed on social media using the hashtag #ISPORMilan.

ABOUT ISPORThe International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) is a nonprofit, international, educational and scientific organization that promotes health economics and outcomes research excellence to improve decision making for health globally. Web: www.ISPOR.org | LinkedIn: www.bit.ly/ISPOR-IN | Twitter: www.bit.ly/ISPOR-T (@ISPORorg) | YouTube: www.bit.ly/ISPOR-YT |Facebook: www.bit.ly/ISPOR-FB

Meeting Link: IISPOR 18th Annual European Congress