E.V.I.dently September 2020

Infographic of healthcare related icons and illustrations

Message from NPC

NPC Names Dr. Robert Dubois as Interim President and CEO

The National Pharmaceutical Council’s (NPC) Board of Directors has appointed Robert Dubois, MD, PhD, as its interim president and CEO. The NPC Board of Directors will conduct a national search for a permanent replacement for Dan Leonard, who stepped down as NPC’s president and CEO on Sept. 4. As the interim leader of NPC, Dr. Dubois, who served 10 years as NPC’s chief science officer, plans to focus on two critical priorities:

  • Building on the great work and success that NPC achieved during Dan Leonard's 12 years of leadership by leveraging NPC's tradition of evidence-based research, partnership and education.
     
  • Preparing NPC for the future, anticipating some of the key issues we will face in the next year, or the next five years, or the next decade.

Visit the NPC website for Dr. Dubois’ blog and video about the transition.

NPC Now: A Look at Our Latest Work

Recommendations from the Real-World Evidence Transparency Initiative

A paper that describes a plan for making the registration of hypothesis-evaluating treatment effect (HETE) real-world evidence (RWE) studies routine was published jointly in ISPOR’s Value in Health and ISPE’s PDS journals on Sept. 16. The plan includes specifying the rationale for registering HETE RWE studies, the studies that should be registered, and where and when these studies should be registered. This paper builds on NPC’s work on RWE and how it extends to health decisions. Read the full paper in Value in Health and a summary on NPC’s website.

Benefits of Medicines – Not Just Costs – Must Be a Part of the Conversation

Dr. Dubois discusses a Health Affairs article from Harvard’s David Cutler and his collaborators identifying public health efforts and pharmaceuticals as leading drivers impacting increased life expectancy in the United States between 1990 and 2015. The new paper builds on NPC’s previous research, which found that physicians attribute 56% of improvement in outcomes for eight different conditions to medications, with all other medical interventions making up the remainder. Check out Dr. Dubois’ full commentary on NPC’s website.

Supporting Value-Based Purchasing Through Changes in MBP

In a column for PharmaBoardroom, Michael Ciarametaro, vice president for research at NPC, points out the ways in which Medicaid Best Price (MBP) presents a barrier to creative payment methodologies in the United States. A survey conducted by NPC and the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy that asked payers and manufacturers about their efforts around value-based purchasing agreements found that MBP slows down the development of new agreements. Find out more about Mr. Ciarametaro’s column on NPC’s website.

Other Research and Info

RWE Research at ISPE Conference

Research funded and co-authored by NPC was shared Sept. 16-17 as a virtual poster session during the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology’s International Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology All Access: 35 Years of Real-World Science scientific program. Co-author Katsiaryna Bykov, PharmD, ScD, Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, served as lead presenter. The poster, “The State of Real-world Evidence in Comparative Effectiveness and Safety Studies Based on Healthcare Insurance Claims,” detailed findings that showed a high prevalence of well-known design and analysis flaws that may lead to biased results among RWE studies.

ICYMI: Articles of Note

  • McGlynn EA, Measuring and Improving Quality in the US: Where Are We Today? September 2020. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
     
  • Orsini LS, et al. Improving Transparency to Build Trust in Real-World Secondary Data Studies for Hypothesis Testing—Why, What, and How: Recommendations and a Road Map from the Real-World Evidence Transparency Initiative. September 2020, Value in Health
     
  • Patashnik EM, Comparatively Ineffective? PCORI and the Uphill Battle to Make Evidence Count in US Medicine. October 2020, Journal of Health Politics

Events and Education

Webinar: Maximizing Healthcare Value: What's in Your Toolbox?

On Oct. 13 at 12 p.m. ET, NPC Vice President for Health Services Research Kimberly Westrich will participate in a webinar organized by the Pittsburgh Business Group on Health about health spending and the evolving value landscape faced by employers. She will share some of the tools available to help navigate the landscape of health care decision-making, with a particular focus on the role and of value assessment frameworks as useful tools for employers. Registration is now open.

Webinar: Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis: Can It Help Make Value Assessment More Patient Centered?

Ms. Westrich will speak at a webinar on Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) on Oct. 15 from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. ET. The webinar, co-hosted by the National Health Council and NPC, will introduce MCDA and describe comments, suggestions, and takeaways that emerged during a Roundtable on Patient-Centered MCDA hosted earlier this year. Registration is now open.