Over the past few months, Avalere experts released key Insights and videos spotlighting each of its top 10 trends in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), exploring their interconnections, their anticipated impact on HEOR and other healthcare spaces, and the key implications for stakeholders to consider for their strategic plans. Below are brief descriptions of each trend and links to the expert analyses:

1. Real-World Evidence (RWE): RWE continues to have an important and evolving role in the healthcare landscape. Strategically leveraging RWE further supports a product’s value, demonstrates real-world effectiveness, and expands a product’s evidence base as a differentiator.
2. Health Equity: Developing and executing upon plans to address health disparities and advance health equity benefits manufacturers both from a social and business perspective and has been demonstrated to lead to improved patient access, wide-ranging positive business impacts, and better health outcomes for patients.
3. Patient Heterogeneity: Real-world data shows that patients have unique characteristics and preferences that, if not accounted for, can amplify disparate impacts to analyses and outcomes. In a time of personalized medicine, healthcare stakeholders are prioritizing understanding the effects of patient heterogeneity on clinical decision-making and outcomes.
4. Implementation Science: Few evidence-based interventions are adopted into standard practice and many innovative therapies face barriers to real-world adoption despite proven effectiveness. Manufacturers can play a key role in accelerating evidence-based medicine through implementation science, which demonstrates a pathway to integrate evidence into routine healthcare. See the video for trends 1–4.
5. Patient Engagement and Centricity in Healthcare Decision Making: Patient-centeredness is a hallmark of high-quality healthcare and is now being incorporated into all aspects of healthcare decision making. It is increasingly important for life sciences companies to infuse the patient perspective into evidence generation strategies throughout the product lifecycle. See the Insight and video.
6. Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI can create efficiencies in healthcare research by harnessing big data and implementing algorithms to optimize patient identification, risk prediction, and outcomes assessments. However, this must be balanced with transparent algorithms to avoid data bias and ensure strict adherence to privacy compliance rules. AI-based advances in research can translate to opportunities for optimization of patient care through a variety of exciting avenues. See the Insight and video.
7. Value Assessment: Value assessment in the United States is constantly evolving. Payers are increasingly using value assessment constructs to inform coverage, reimbursement, and utilization management decisions. The Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) is implementing its first attempt at lifecycle value assessment through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).These developments underscore the critical need for earlier preparation of evidence and consideration against therapeutic alternatives to optimally demonstrate treatment value. See the Insight and video.
8. HEOR as a Differentiator Versus a Commodity: Evidence generation teams have increasingly limited HEOR resources, which may lead to challenges in differentiating their product’s value to payers as value assessors, such as CMS or the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER). It is increasingly critical to develop strategic, multi-year evidence generation plans that are designed to meet the needs of payers and providers, while also informing market access strategy and preparing for impacts from the policy environment, such as IRA drug price negotiation. See the Insight and video.
9. Policy Pressure on HEOR: More than ever, manufacturers are facing shifting evidence needs across the product lifecycle due to multiple policy developments, with the IRA at the forefront. Manufacturers can supplement current evidence planning with an IRA-specific HEOR strategy and may consider adapting pipeline evidence generation planning to incorporate IRA-related requirements. See the Insight and video.
10. Quantifying Indirect Burden and Measuring Novel Elements of Value: Disease burden is typically measured through quantitative estimates of direct healthcare-related costs and utilization, while traditional value assessments often utilize narrow cost-effectiveness analyses centered around the payer perspective. Now, the industry is shifting towards a patient-centric model, making it imperative to better understand the indirect burden of disease to patients, caregivers, and society, and to define the novel elements of value that complement traditional metrics, such as through mixed methods analyses and qualitative insight gathering. See the Insight and video.

Dive Deeper

HEOR as a field is constantly evolving, requiring new perspectives and innovative strategies. Avalere continues to serve as a strategic thought partner for HEOR leaders in the life sciences industry in 2024 and beyond, bringing a 360-degree perspective to every engagement. Monitor Avalere for future Insights on the evolving HEOR space.

To engage about these trends and discuss how Avalere can support your HEOR initiatives, or to receive regular Avalere updates, connect with us.