Health Economics and Outcomes Research

Policy Analysis

Shift the debate. Changing how payers, health systems, and policymakers view a disease area or treatment requires a robust evidence and innovative thinking. FTI’s Center for Healthcare Economics and Policy has the technical skills and experience to shift the debate as innovative products reach the market. From expertise in real-world data analysis to microsimulation modelling, from survey design to commentaries, FTI has tools to generate evidence for your above-brand research needs. For instance, FTI staff combined a survey, real-world data analysis and microsimulation modelling to measure the health and economic value of improved mobility to US patients over the next two decades. With the advent of alternative payment models for health systems, FTI modelled how the adoption of new treatments would affect health system finances under value-based alternative payment models. Further, FTI staff has worked with organizations such as the National Academies of Science using real-world health insurance claims data to quantify regional variation in the quality and cost of care. FTI staff have been published top-tier peer-reviewed journals as well as in highly visible outlets including Forbes, Health Affairs, STAT News, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, among others.

Value Measurement

Capturing your product’s full value. Not only does the FTI team have experience developing cost-effectiveness models across a variety of disease areas ranging from for rheumatoid arthritis to sickle cell disease, FTI leaders have worked with organizations such as the Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI) to develop open-source approaches to cost-effectiveness analysis.” Beyond the standard CEA models, FTI has conducted cutting-edge research to quantify the broader societal value of new treatments. To measure the value new products can provide in reducing health disparities, FTI staff also have argued for the increased use of distributional cost effectiveness analysis (DCEA) modelling. FTI has also worked with leading academics to implement the Generalized Risk-Adjusted Cost Effectiveness (GRACE) models that—by incorporating patient risk preferences—are able to more appropriately quantify the value of treatments for the most severe diseases.

Real World Evidence

Making it real. FTI’s team of researchers has deep skills evaluating data from a variety of sources including health insurance claims data, electronic health records, laboratory data, patient registries and others. Our team has published work using claims and laboratory data to quantify the economic burden of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis with specific biomarkers. Our team has expertise quantifying patient medication adherence, not only using standard metrics such as the medication possession ratio, but also using adherence trajectory modelling to map patient adherence trends dynamically over time. To inform value-based contracting arrangements, our team has combined clinical trial and real-world data, to predict how patient socioeconomic and medical conditions will affect real-world outcomes. Further our team have applied machine learning algorithms to large data sources to predict disease progression.

Patient-Centered Research

Putting patients front and center. Being patient-centered means not only understanding what patients want, but examining how they make tradeoffs across treatments attributes. Center staff are leaders in conducting discrete choice experiment (DCE) surveys to quantify the value patients, caregivers, physicians and other stakeholders place on different treatment alternatives. When physician prescribing patterns deviated from patient preferences, FTI staff designed a DCE survey to compare how patients and physicians value the attributes of different treatments for atrial fibrillation. When physicians undervalue treatments with curative intent, FTI staff estimated the “value of hope” from the patient and physician perspective. In a final example, FTI staff used the DCE methodology to measure how moving from current practice to patient-centered prescribing would improve health outcomes for individuals with multiple sclerosis.

Market Access

Translating evidence to access. Rules set by payers and policymakers increasingly raise the bar and limited market access is the single largest factor in launches failing to achieve expectations. To address this challenge, FTI engagement strategies ensure favorable launch environment, including innovative market access, pricing and reimbursement models and companion diagnostics. Our team has extensive experience conducting market landscape analysis and stakeholder insight generation. Further, the Center works closely with FTI’s Strategic Communication in the US, Canada and Europe to provide comprehensive value communication, advocacy and market access operational support for launch.