At the Office of Health Economics (OHE), we combine rigorous research with bold ideas to address the world’s most complex health challenges. We are a pioneer in the field. Collaborating with our partners, we tackle the challenges you may not have heard about – until we’ve helped solve them, delivering insights that shape smarter policies, foster innovation, and improve health every day.

By focusing on excellence, innovation, and the broader value of healthcare, we empower our partners to make decisions that benefit communities, economies, and the future of health globally.

What We Do

We’re focused on improving healthcare efficiency, sustainability, and outcomes by:

Our Impact

What we deliver

As a government-recognised Independent Research Organisation and not-for-profit, our international reputation for the quality and independence of our research is at the forefront of all we do.

OHE provides independent and pioneering resources, research and analyses in health economics, health policy and health statistics. Our work informs decision-making about health care and pharmaceutical issues at a global level.

Since 1962 we have been commissioned to undertake agile and responsive research in a myriad of health care areas, ranging from Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) to Gene Therapies and health system effectiveness.

Through our independent Research and Policy Committees, our work is continually shaped by world–leading economists, ensuring we are always working at the frontiers of our sector.

The evidence we generate

We use the evidence we generate to promote evidence-based health care policies and the effective and efficient use of health care resources. Our work supports decision-making and raises awareness of health care policy issues, by encouraging debate and dissemination of critical health economics research.

How we are funded

OHE is an independent not-for-profit (registered charity in the UK) and research organisation. Our work is or has recently been supported directly by research grants, awards and funding from a wide range of UK and international partners including: the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), the Department of Health Policy Research Programme (PRP), the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Health Foundation, the EuroQol Foundation and a number of charitable and other organisations.

Through our wholly-owned subsidiary, OHE Consulting Ltd, OHE provides Contract Research services allowing organisations around the world to access the talent and resources of world-leading team of researchers. All of the proceeds of this work is gift-aided to the charity and supports our research activities.

Our Annual Report provides the most recent information on our funding and activities.

Charitable objects

OHE became a registered Charity in December 2016
(registration number 1170829).

To advance the education of the public in general/health care payers/policy makers (and particularly patients and healthcare professionals) on the subject of health economics and healthcare policy.

Activities in furtherance of this will include, in particular but not exclusively:

• Promotion of evidence-based health care policy, by carrying out research on the economics of health, health care systems and the life sciences industry
• Promotion of effective and efficient use of health care resources, by advancing the use of economic approaches to support decision making
• The facilitation of decision making and awareness of health care policy issues, by encouraging debate and dissemination of relevant health economics research

For the avoidance of doubt, the terms “health economics” shall mean the application of economic theory, models and empirical techniques to the analysis of decision making by people, health care providers and governments with respect to health and health care.

Research Integrity at the Office of Health Economics

OHE was awarded Independent Research Organisation (IRO) by UKRI in 2020

OHE is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards according to our values of integrity, responsibility and accountability, collegiality, equality of respect and opportunity, intellectual freedom, and sustainability in our everyday decision-making.

OHE fully supports the UUK Concordat to support research integrity and its five commitments of:

• upholding the highest standards of rigour and integrity in all aspects of research;
• ensuring that research is conducted according to appropriate ethical, legal and professional frameworks, obligations and standards;
• supporting a research environment that is underpinned by a culture of integrity and based on good governance, best practice and support for the development of researchers;
• using transparent, timely, robust and fair processes to deal with allegations of research misconduct  when they arise;
• working together to strengthen the integrity of research and reviewing progress regularly and openly.