by Wanwuri Akor
The 22nd annual international conference of the International Society For Pharmacoeconomics Outcomes Research was held in May 2017 at the Sheraton Hotel in Boston, MA. The conference was both large and interesting and was held over three days with an additional two days of pre-conference courses and workshops. The highlights of the conference can be accessed here and the presentations can be found here. The theme of the conference was “Evidence and value in the time of social change”, which links to some of the findings in my current study on the prioritisation processes in Nigeria. One pertinent issue that rings true in healthcare decision making is what evidence matters? And whose values? The ability to manage the various types of evidence submitted by diverse priority-setting stakeholders is key to the effective and efficient use of scarce resources.
Personally, the highlight of the conference were the pre-conference courses, which for someone without a health economics background, were useful and informative. The range of topics, such as Budget Impact Analysis, Multicriteria Decision Analysis and Basic/Advance Decision Modelling Methods, as well as the hands-on workshops for some topics were really a bonus, as it helped “novices” like me become more confident in applying the acquired knowledge. The conference also held regional specific meetings, students’ competitions as well as a young/new professionals’ session, which highlighted the opportunities in pharmacoeconomics and outcome research. It exposed us to possibilities in the application and use of health economic principles and practice. Continue reading “22nd annual ISPOR conference, Boston”