OHE at the 2019 Spanish Health Economics Association (AES) Conference

Meet some of the OHE team at the Spanish Health Economics Association (AES) 2019 conference in Albacete, 12-14 June.

Meet some of the OHE team at the Spanish Health Economics Association (AES) 2019 conference in Albacete, 12-14 June.

The 39th AES conference will take place from 12th to 14th June in Albacete, with the theme Transparency is healthy. The importance of accountability in healthcare. Bernarda Zamora, Maria Errea, Marina Rodes Sanchez, and Patricia Cubí-Mollá will all be attending the conference, presenting work from OHE’s ongoing research studies.

Organised Session I: The introduction of pay for performance for specialised care in England

Prescribed Specialised Services (PSS) Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) schemes were launched in 2013 in England with the aim of improving the quality of specialised care and achieving value for money. During this presentation, Marina will describe the key features of the schemes and discuss its strengths and weaknesses based on international pay-for-performance literature. The session is organized by Patricia, joint with Laia Maynou (London School of Economics), on behalf of the special interest group on the evaluation of health policies and health care services (EvaluAES).

Communications Panels V, O-24: Quantifying the life-cycle value of innovative medicines: the case of risperidone and second-generation antipsychotics

This study, co-authored by Mikel Berdud, Bernarda Zamora, and Adrian Towse, aims to guide access decisions and drive the discussion on access and price, through recognition of the dynamic nature of value added by pharmaceutical innovation over the long-run. The analysis of the life-cycle value of risperidone estimates the value generated in the UK and Sweden. Results show that health systems were able to appropriate most of the life-cycle value generated, and this is larger than estimated at launch.

Communications Panels VIII, O-37: Outcome-based payment schemes: what outcomes do cancer patients value?

One way to improve access to new cancer medicines in England is to introduce more flexible pricing mechanisms. This reflects a growing interest in alternative forms of pharmaceutical pricing arrangements, where the effectiveness of a drug, in an indication or a (sub)population, remains uncertain despite trial evidence. One of the alternatives that is gaining traction is outcome-based payment (OBP), whereby the price paid for the drug is linked to the real-world outcomes it achieves for patients. In general, OBP schemes have focused on clinical outcomes. However, it is unclear which outcomes cancer patients value most. Patricia will present the main results of a project funded by Cancer Research UK with Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership, on Making Outcome-based payments a reality in the NHS. The authors found that the most important outcomes to patients and carers are survival; progression, relapse or recurrence; long-term side effects; and return to normal activities. Notably, only mortality is routinely collected within the NHS, progression and morbidity data exist but are not currently linked, creating a challenge for OBP.

Communications Panels XVI, O-73: A multinational European study of patient preferences for novel diagnostics to tackle antimicrobial resistance

Novel diagnostics are needed to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Patient preferences are important in determining whether diagnostic tests are successful in practice, but there is little evidence around what matters most to patients. We used a discrete choice experiment to elicit patients’ preferences for attributes of diagnostic tests across seven European countries. Responses from Germany and the Netherlands indicated that confidence in the test result is of the highest importance; responses from the UK, France, Spain, and Italy showed convenience as the most important attribute. Confidence and convenience were jointly favoured by respondents in Greece. Time until results are available was the least important attribute in most countries. This presentation will be given by OHE Visiting Fellow, Jorge Mestre-Ferrandiz.

Poster session IV, P-51: Blood donation in the UK. Are we doing all right or could we do better?

Blood is collected in the UK through voluntary (not remunerated) human donations. The number of appointments booked with NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has significantly risen in recent years. However, evidence shows that the number of appointments is greater than the number of final blood donations. Given that there is an urgent need for more blood donors, NHSBT is interested to explore the key factors that are driving potential donors who book an appointment to make a blood donation (or not). The aim of this project is to explore the circumstances and characteristics that lead to a donation, compared to those that do not lead to a donation, amongst people who book an appointment. For this poster presentation, Maria will discuss previous research showing that campaigns have an impact on the number of new blood donors, and consider data on the number of new donors per day compared with the level of demand in NHSBT.

Invited session VI: Experiencia docente en la organización y gestión de servicios sanitarios

In this session, Maria will contribute to a discussion of experiences in delivering a postgraduate course – launched two years ago – for current professionals of the health care system who want to become managers of a health organisation. Maria has been part of the team of coordinators, with the responsibility for coordinating two key modules (of a 10-module course). The presentation will be about the experience of teaching to a very particular group of students, most of whom work full time at a hospital or ambulatory health care centre, and about the organisation of the modules.