IVI Model highlights ACR Conference

As reported in a Academy of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy newsletter, titled “Mathematical Model Aims to Improve Cost-Effectiveness of Rheumatology Treatment“, the Innovation and Value Initiative’s is highlighted from the American College of Rheumatology conference.  Here is an excerpt: Biological therapies for moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis have significantly improved treatment and prognosis. However,…

Understanding The Value Of Innovations In Medicine

Today, there was an excellent briefing put on by Health Affairs at the National Press Club. The topic was “Understanding the Value of Innovations in Medicine” and the briefing contained two panel discussions (see agenda).  The first panel , “Many Stakeholders, Many Values: Measuring Value In A Diverse Healthcare” featured expert economists, epidemiologists, and patient…

Quality of your (Social) Life

Many metrics purport to measure individuals quality of life.  Tools such as the EQ-5D and SF-36 do so largely based on functional status.  Using other surveys on individual preferences, one can estimate patient utility for any given functional status level (i.e,. EQ-5D or SF-36 score).  What these scores ignore, however, is the social component of…

Innovations in Cancer Care: Capturing What Patients Value in the Calculus of Drug Costs

My current employer, Precision Health Economics, has posted an interesting research brief describing how traditional notions of value may not be capturing the full value patients receive from oncology treatments. A brief description is below but do check out the full report. As health care spending continues to rise, payers and providers struggle to accurately measure…