Newswise — Lawrenceville, NJ, USA—May 1, 2018—Value in Health, the official journal of ISPOR—the professional society for health economics and outcomes research—announced today the publication of a series of award-winning papers offering transformative strategies to assess the value of healthcare interventions in the United States. The special themed section, introduced by an editorial entitled The Value Challenge: Examining the Transformative Strategies to Measure or Evaluate the Value of Healthcare Interventions, appears in the April 2018 issue of Value in Health. The guest editor is Bryan R. Luce, PhD, MBA, of Evidera, Inc, Bethesda, MD, USA and School of Pharmacy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
The award-winning articles were submitted as part of the PhRMA Foundation’s 2017 “Value Initiative,” which included research awards and center of excellence awards. In addition, the Foundation introduced a unique value assessment challenge awards program that provided more than $80,000 to support scientific papers that advance solutions to the following question: What are transformative strategies to measure or evaluate value of healthcare interventions that could be implemented to advance a value-driven healthcare system in the United States? The 3 top challenge-winning papers are included in the special themed section:
- Framework for Measuring Low-Value Care. This article by George Miller and colleagues tackles the important issue of identifying and ultimately ridding the healthcare system of low-value care. The paper initially characterizes existing efforts as falling into 3 general approaches. Taking advantage of the strengths and minimizing the limitations of these 3 approaches, the authors propose a comprehensive methodology for measuring and tracking low-value care in the United States. The paper identifies both near- and long-term efforts for implementation that can help improve healthcare efficiency and curb wasteful spending.
- Improving Value for Eczema Patients. Focusing on value through the lens of the process of care itself, Julie Block argues that positive patient-provider communication leads to improved therapeutic value. As a vehicle to discuss the role and value of shared decision making, Block describes the highly heterogeneous nature of eczema, which she believes requires empowering patients with information to tailor treatment regimens to the patient’s personal needs and preferences to optimize treatment success. The paper goes on to describe the shared decision-making activities of the National Eczema Association’s SDM Resource Center.
- Emerging Good Practices for Transforming Value Assessment: Patients’ Voices, Patients’ Values. The article by Eleanor Perfetto and colleagues describes the National Health Council’s (NHC’s) own value initiative, launched in 2016 in response to the NHC’s observation that 4 recent well-known value frameworks were initially formulated with little to no patient engagement involved. In response, the NHC formed a workgroup to generate a set of best practices for such engagement going forward. The paper presents recommendations falling into 4 categories: (1) timing of engagement; (2) methodology and data; (3) partnering with patients; and (4) characterizing the engagement process.
“Each of these papers views value through a different lens,” noted Dr. Luce. “Interestingly, none addresses value in terms of cost per quality-adjusted life years saved, which has been the mainstay of much of the healthcare value debate over the years. And while none of these approaches will lead to a precise measurement of value, each is clearly related, however imprecisely, to the real life notion of value. These excellent papers establish a firm foundation from which the PhRMA Foundation can extend and perhaps expand its Value Assessment Challenge Awards program.”
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ABOUT ISPOR
ISPOR, the professional society for health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), is an international, multistakeholder, nonprofit dedicated to advancing HEOR excellence to improve decision making for health globally. The Society is the leading source for scientific conferences, peer-reviewed and MEDLINE®-indexed publications, good practices guidance, education, collaboration, and tools/resources in the field.
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ABOUT VALUE IN HEALTH
Value in Health (ISSN 1098-3015) is an international, indexed journal that publishes original research and health policy articles that advance the field of health economics and outcomes research to help healthcare leaders make evidence-based decisions. The journal’s 2016 impact factor score is 4.235. Value in Health is ranked 3rd out of 77 journals in health policy and services, 7th out of 347 journals in economics, and 9th out of 90 journals in healthcare sciences and services. Value in Health is a monthly publication that circulates to more than 10,000 readers around the world.
Web: www.ispor.org/valueinhealth_index.asp | Twitter: www.twitter.com/ISPORJournals (@ISPORjournals)
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