In This Week’s Issue:
1. Avalere and FasterCures Release Patient-Perspective Value Framework to Incorporate Patient Preferences into Healthcare Treatment Decisions, click here to read the press release.
2. PCORI to Offer Up to $41 Million for New Patient-Centered Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research on Opioids, Advanced Illnesses, click here to read the press release.
3. AMJC: Finding Value of Life-Saving Therapies Can Reveal What Matters to Patients, click here to read the article.
4. Health Affairs: The Case For Patient-Centered Assessment Of Value, click here to read the article.
5. New York Times: New Veterans Affairs Chief: A Hands-On, Risk-Taking ‘Standout’, click here to read the article.
6. The Upshot: We’re Bad at Death. Can We Talk? Click here to read the blog.
7. NPC: How Can We Address Barriers to Accessing Needed Care? Click here to read the article.
8. Healthcare Informatics: Former Minnesota CIO to Head AHRQ, click here to read the article.
9. Epilepsy Foundation: 2017-2018 AAHD Frederick J. Krause Scholarship on Health and Disability, click here to apply.
10. Upcoming Events and Webinars, see details below.
11. Medical Journal Articles, see details below.
12. AHRQ Effective Program Updates, see details below.
1. Avalere and FasterCures Release Patient-Perspective Value Framework to Incorporate Patient Preferences into Healthcare Treatment Decisions, click here to read the press release.
2. PCORI to Offer Up to $41 Million for New Patient-Centered Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research on Opioids, Advanced Illnesses, click here to read the press release.
3. AMJC: Finding Value of Life-Saving Therapies Can Reveal What Matters to Patients, click here to read the article.
4. Health Affairs: The Case For Patient-Centered Assessment Of Value, click here to read the article.
5. New York Times: New Veterans Affairs Chief: A Hands-On, Risk-Taking ‘Standout’, click here to read the article.
6. The Upshot: We’re Bad at Death. Can We Talk? Click here to read the blog.
7. NPC: How Can We Address Barriers to Accessing Needed Care? Click here to read the article.
8. Healthcare Informatics: Former Minnesota CIO to Head AHRQ, click here to read the article.
9. Epilepsy Foundation: 2017-2018 AAHD Frederick J. Krause Scholarship on Health and Disability, click here to apply.
10. Upcoming Events and Webinars, see details below.
11. Medical Journal Articles, see details below.
12. AHRQ Effective Program Updates, see details below.
1. Avalere and FasterCures Release Patient-Perspective Value Framework to Incorporate Patient Preferences into Healthcare Treatment Decisions
On Friday, Avalere and FasterCures published Version 1.0 of the Patient-Perspective Value Framework, the result of a year-long multi-stakeholder effort to redefine value from the patient perspective. The PPVF identifies what matters most to patients and enables healthcare organizations to integrate the patient-perspective on value into their own processes. “The PPVF Framework is comprised of five domains: patient preferences, patient- centered outcomes, patient and family costs, usability and transparency, and quality and application of evidence (Figure 1). The patient preferences domain serves as a lens through which PPVF views the outcomes, cost, and quality and applicability components. These domains were selected by a 23-member PPVF Steering Committee, which represent engagement from a diverse group of healthcare stakeholders including federal government agencies, patient groups, health plans, providers, life sciences companies, and others.” Click here to read the press release.
2. PCORI to Offer Up to $41 Million for New Patient-Centered Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research on Opioids, Advanced Illnesses
Last Monday, PCORI announced new funding for patient-centered, comparative clinical effectiveness research focusing on opioid use disorders in pregnant women and symptom management for patients with advanced illness.“...The PFAs will focus on two important topics. One will provide up to $16 million for research on the best ways to deliver medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorders to pregnant women. The other will offer up to $25 million for studies on how to most effectively manage symptoms in patients with advanced illness. Each responds to key concerns voiced by healthcare decision makers.” Click here to read the press release.
3. AMJC: Finding Value of Life-Saving Therapies Can Reveal What Matters to Patients
Mary Caffrey comments in The American Journal of Managed Care that explains that moving to value-based pricing system can be thorny when not everyone has the same definition of value. “Enter value frameworks, which are systems that can assign weights to a drug's various attributes—its cost, its survival benefits, its side effects—and help health systems, physicians, and patients decide which therapy is best. Various value frameworks have arisen in healthcare in recent years, from medical societies like American College of Cardiology, as well as from the Institute for Clinical Economic Review (ICER), which tries to perform the value calculation based on assumptions about attributes.” Click here to read the article.
4. Health Affairs: The Case For Patient-Centered Assessment Of Value
Alan Balch and Darius Lakdawalla make the case for a more patient-centered voice in healthcare decision making in Health Affairs. “...A range of therapies might be clinically indicated for a given patient, but they may vary on non-clinical dimensions that matter to them...A flexible formulary might allow patients and their physicians to choose among these clinically valid therapies that nonetheless differ in ways that matter to the patient. In this way, the ‘guard rails’ stay up around evidence-based care but become more aligned with the patient experience.” Click here to read the article.
5. New York Times: New Veterans Affairs Chief: A Hands-On, Risk-Taking ‘Standout’
Dave Phillips and Nicholas Fandos wrote a profile on new Veterans’ Affairs Secretary David Shulkin’s efforts to promote patient-centered policies in The New York Times. “By standardizing best practices, Dr. Shulkin believed, he could save money and patients. Before long, he was one of the ‘high priests’ of patient-centered care, said Stanley Brezenoff, a longtime health care executive who is the interim chief executive of New York City’s health system. Dr. Shulkin pushed each system he worked in to train its focus on quality. Financial savings, he argued, would naturally follow.” Click here to read the article.
6. The Upshot: We’re Bad at Death. Can We Talk?
In The New York Times’ blog “The Upshot,” Dhruv Khullar touches on the uncertain progression of terminal dieseases an it’s impact on patients and their families to start the conversation about palliative care and hospice. “The decline of most patients with end-organ failure is punctuated by peaks and valleys. My patient’s heart might be failing and his lungs filling with fluid, but I’ll switch his diuretic medication (it’s just Lasix, not chemo). He’ll breathe better — maybe for weeks, maybe for months — until these intervals become shorter and shorter. It’s unclear exactly when we’re approaching the end, which makes it hard to know when to involve palliative care or start discussions about hospice in earnest.” Click here to read the blog.
7. NPC: How Can We Address Barriers to Accessing Needed Care?
In the latest issue of the American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits, National Pharmaceutical Council Chief Science Officer Robert Dubois, MD, PhD, outlines some of the challenges consumers are facing with high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and suggests potential ways to improve these plans. “Dr. Dubois points to research that shows lowering cost sharing for certain treatments or covered preventive care before the deductible, particularly for chronic conditions, can improve medication adherence and keep employees healthier. Encouraging access to higher value care through value-based insurance design and capping out-of-pocket costs for copays and coinsurance are other methods that are being utilized to reduce the burden on consumers.” Click here to read the article.
8. Healthcare Informatics: Former Minnesota CIO to Head AHRQ
David Raths of Healthcare Informatics has the scoop on the new AHRQ director for the Trump Administration. “Although there hasn't yet been an official announcement from the Trump Administration, Gopal Khanna has been named the new director of [AHRQ], according to an email Tuesday from the agency's acting director, Sharon Arnold, M.D...Khanna served as Minnesota's first statewide chief information officer and more recently led a statewide Healthcare & Human Services Innovation Incubator (HHSi2) for the State of Illinois.” Click here to read the article.
9. Epilepsy Foundation: 2017-2018 AAHD Frederick J. Krause Scholarship on Health and Disability
The American Association on Health and Disability’s Frederick J. Krause Scholarship on Health and Disability is currently accepting applications. The scholarship honors Frederick J. Krause, a lifelong advocate for those with disabilities who passed away in 2014. Beginning with his role as a special education teacher, Mr. Krause’s distinguished career in advocacy included service in the federal government and the cofounding of the American Association on Health and Disability. The scholarship pays tribute to Mr. Krause by awarding scholarships to students with disabilities that are pursuing an education on disability-related topics. Click here to apply.
10. Upcoming Events and Webinars
PCORI: Advisory Panel on Addressing Disparities Spring 2017 Meeting
May 17, 2017
Click here for details.
Awardee Progress Reporting Webinar
May 24, 2017
Click here for details.
Advisory Panel on Assessment of Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment Options Spring 2017 Meeting
May 25, 2017
Click here for details.
Integrating PROs in EHRs: Presentation of a Users' Guide and Discussion of Standardization
May 25-26, 2017
Click here for details.
Facebook Live & Periscope Q&A: Arthritis Awareness Month
May 30, 2017
Click here for details.
ICER: Orphan Drug Assessment and Pricing Summit
May 31, 2017
Click here for details.
Webinar: Observational Research: Gathering Evidence in the 21st Century
June 1, 2017
Click here for details.
PCORI Board of Governors Meeting
June 20, 2017
Click here for details.
Introduction to HEOR: Principles and Practice in Health Care Decision Making
October 5-8
Click here for details.
2017 PCORI Annual Meeting
October 31-November 2
Click here for details.
11. Medical Journal Articles
A Longitudinal Analysis of Data Quality in a Large Pediatric Data Research Network, click here to view.
Effect of Bevacizumab vs Aflibercept on Visual Acuity Among Patients With Macular Edema Due to Central Retinal Vein Occlusion: The SCORE2 Randomized Clinical Trial, click here to view.
May Issue: Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research, click here to view.
A Real-World Approach to Evidence-Based Medicine in General Practice: A Competency Framework Derived from a Systematic Review and Delphi Process, click here to view.
Comparative Effectiveness of Prostate Cancer Treatments for Patient-Centered Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA Compliant), click here to view.
AMCP Partnership Forum: Driving Value and Outcomes in Oncology, click here to view.
Real-World Evidence and the Behavioral Economics of Physician Prescribing, click here to view.
Verification of Decision-Analytic Models for Health Economic Evaluations: An Overview, click here to view
Design and Baseline Data from a PCORI-Funded Randomized Controlled Trial of Family-Centered Tailoring of Diabetes Self-Management Resources, click here to view.
Uninterrupted Dabigatran versus Warfarin for Ablation in Atrial Fibrillation, click here to view
Improving Recruitment and Retention Rates in a Randomized Controlled Trial, click here to view
Access to Non-Statin Lipid Lowering Therapies in Patients at High-Risk of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease, click here to view
Reevaluating Eligibility Criteria — Balancing Patient Protection and Participation in Oncology Trials, click here to view
Comparative Effectiveness in Urology: A State of the Art Review Utilizing a Systematic Approach, click here to view
The Relationship Between Adherence and Total Spending Among Medicare Beneficiaries With Type 2 Diabetes, click here to view
Policies for Use of Real-World Data in Health Technology Assessment (HTA): A Comparative Study of Six HTA Agencies, click here to view
Clinical Patient Registry Recruitment and Retention: A Survey of Patients in Two Chronic Disease Registries, click here to view
Healthcare Costs and Medication Adherence Among Patients with Fibromyalgia: Combination Medication vs. Duloxetine, Milnacipran, Venlafaxine, and Pregabalin Initiators, click here to view.
12. AHRQ Effective Program Updates
Tympanostomy Tubes in Children with Otitis Media -- Final Report, click here to view
Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee: An Update Review -- Final Report, click here to view.
Assessment Tools for Palliative Care -- Final Report, click here to view.
Noninvasive, Nonpharmacological Treatment for Chronic Pain, click here to view.
The Role of Immunotherapy in the Treatment of Asthma, click here to view
Preventing Complications and Treating Symptoms of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy -- Final Report, click here to view.
Systematic Review of Intermittent Inhaled Corticosteroids and of Long-acting Muscarinic Antagonists for Asthma, click here to view.
Interventions to Prevent Age-Related Cognitive Decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Clinical Alzheimer's-Type Dementia -- Final Report, click here to view
First- and Second-Generation Antipsychotics in Children and Young Adults: Systematic Review Update -- Final Report, click here to view.
Strategies for Improving the Lives of Women Aged 40 and Above Living With HIV/AIDS -- Disposition of Comments, click here to view.
Physiologic Predictors of the Need for Trauma Center Care: A Systematic Review -- Research Protocol, click here to view.
Treatments for Adults with Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review, click here to view.
Anxiety in Children, click here to view.
Patient Safety in Ambulatory Settings -- Disposition of Comments Report, click here to view.
On Friday, Avalere and FasterCures published Version 1.0 of the Patient-Perspective Value Framework, the result of a year-long multi-stakeholder effort to redefine value from the patient perspective. The PPVF identifies what matters most to patients and enables healthcare organizations to integrate the patient-perspective on value into their own processes. “The PPVF Framework is comprised of five domains: patient preferences, patient- centered outcomes, patient and family costs, usability and transparency, and quality and application of evidence (Figure 1). The patient preferences domain serves as a lens through which PPVF views the outcomes, cost, and quality and applicability components. These domains were selected by a 23-member PPVF Steering Committee, which represent engagement from a diverse group of healthcare stakeholders including federal government agencies, patient groups, health plans, providers, life sciences companies, and others.” Click here to read the press release.
2. PCORI to Offer Up to $41 Million for New Patient-Centered Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research on Opioids, Advanced Illnesses
Last Monday, PCORI announced new funding for patient-centered, comparative clinical effectiveness research focusing on opioid use disorders in pregnant women and symptom management for patients with advanced illness.“...The PFAs will focus on two important topics. One will provide up to $16 million for research on the best ways to deliver medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorders to pregnant women. The other will offer up to $25 million for studies on how to most effectively manage symptoms in patients with advanced illness. Each responds to key concerns voiced by healthcare decision makers.” Click here to read the press release.
3. AMJC: Finding Value of Life-Saving Therapies Can Reveal What Matters to Patients
Mary Caffrey comments in The American Journal of Managed Care that explains that moving to value-based pricing system can be thorny when not everyone has the same definition of value. “Enter value frameworks, which are systems that can assign weights to a drug's various attributes—its cost, its survival benefits, its side effects—and help health systems, physicians, and patients decide which therapy is best. Various value frameworks have arisen in healthcare in recent years, from medical societies like American College of Cardiology, as well as from the Institute for Clinical Economic Review (ICER), which tries to perform the value calculation based on assumptions about attributes.” Click here to read the article.
4. Health Affairs: The Case For Patient-Centered Assessment Of Value
Alan Balch and Darius Lakdawalla make the case for a more patient-centered voice in healthcare decision making in Health Affairs. “...A range of therapies might be clinically indicated for a given patient, but they may vary on non-clinical dimensions that matter to them...A flexible formulary might allow patients and their physicians to choose among these clinically valid therapies that nonetheless differ in ways that matter to the patient. In this way, the ‘guard rails’ stay up around evidence-based care but become more aligned with the patient experience.” Click here to read the article.
5. New York Times: New Veterans Affairs Chief: A Hands-On, Risk-Taking ‘Standout’
Dave Phillips and Nicholas Fandos wrote a profile on new Veterans’ Affairs Secretary David Shulkin’s efforts to promote patient-centered policies in The New York Times. “By standardizing best practices, Dr. Shulkin believed, he could save money and patients. Before long, he was one of the ‘high priests’ of patient-centered care, said Stanley Brezenoff, a longtime health care executive who is the interim chief executive of New York City’s health system. Dr. Shulkin pushed each system he worked in to train its focus on quality. Financial savings, he argued, would naturally follow.” Click here to read the article.
6. The Upshot: We’re Bad at Death. Can We Talk?
In The New York Times’ blog “The Upshot,” Dhruv Khullar touches on the uncertain progression of terminal dieseases an it’s impact on patients and their families to start the conversation about palliative care and hospice. “The decline of most patients with end-organ failure is punctuated by peaks and valleys. My patient’s heart might be failing and his lungs filling with fluid, but I’ll switch his diuretic medication (it’s just Lasix, not chemo). He’ll breathe better — maybe for weeks, maybe for months — until these intervals become shorter and shorter. It’s unclear exactly when we’re approaching the end, which makes it hard to know when to involve palliative care or start discussions about hospice in earnest.” Click here to read the blog.
7. NPC: How Can We Address Barriers to Accessing Needed Care?
In the latest issue of the American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits, National Pharmaceutical Council Chief Science Officer Robert Dubois, MD, PhD, outlines some of the challenges consumers are facing with high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and suggests potential ways to improve these plans. “Dr. Dubois points to research that shows lowering cost sharing for certain treatments or covered preventive care before the deductible, particularly for chronic conditions, can improve medication adherence and keep employees healthier. Encouraging access to higher value care through value-based insurance design and capping out-of-pocket costs for copays and coinsurance are other methods that are being utilized to reduce the burden on consumers.” Click here to read the article.
8. Healthcare Informatics: Former Minnesota CIO to Head AHRQ
David Raths of Healthcare Informatics has the scoop on the new AHRQ director for the Trump Administration. “Although there hasn't yet been an official announcement from the Trump Administration, Gopal Khanna has been named the new director of [AHRQ], according to an email Tuesday from the agency's acting director, Sharon Arnold, M.D...Khanna served as Minnesota's first statewide chief information officer and more recently led a statewide Healthcare & Human Services Innovation Incubator (HHSi2) for the State of Illinois.” Click here to read the article.
9. Epilepsy Foundation: 2017-2018 AAHD Frederick J. Krause Scholarship on Health and Disability
The American Association on Health and Disability’s Frederick J. Krause Scholarship on Health and Disability is currently accepting applications. The scholarship honors Frederick J. Krause, a lifelong advocate for those with disabilities who passed away in 2014. Beginning with his role as a special education teacher, Mr. Krause’s distinguished career in advocacy included service in the federal government and the cofounding of the American Association on Health and Disability. The scholarship pays tribute to Mr. Krause by awarding scholarships to students with disabilities that are pursuing an education on disability-related topics. Click here to apply.
10. Upcoming Events and Webinars
PCORI: Advisory Panel on Addressing Disparities Spring 2017 Meeting
May 17, 2017
Click here for details.
Awardee Progress Reporting Webinar
May 24, 2017
Click here for details.
Advisory Panel on Assessment of Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment Options Spring 2017 Meeting
May 25, 2017
Click here for details.
Integrating PROs in EHRs: Presentation of a Users' Guide and Discussion of Standardization
May 25-26, 2017
Click here for details.
Facebook Live & Periscope Q&A: Arthritis Awareness Month
May 30, 2017
Click here for details.
ICER: Orphan Drug Assessment and Pricing Summit
May 31, 2017
Click here for details.
Webinar: Observational Research: Gathering Evidence in the 21st Century
June 1, 2017
Click here for details.
PCORI Board of Governors Meeting
June 20, 2017
Click here for details.
Introduction to HEOR: Principles and Practice in Health Care Decision Making
October 5-8
Click here for details.
2017 PCORI Annual Meeting
October 31-November 2
Click here for details.
11. Medical Journal Articles
A Longitudinal Analysis of Data Quality in a Large Pediatric Data Research Network, click here to view.
Effect of Bevacizumab vs Aflibercept on Visual Acuity Among Patients With Macular Edema Due to Central Retinal Vein Occlusion: The SCORE2 Randomized Clinical Trial, click here to view.
May Issue: Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research, click here to view.
A Real-World Approach to Evidence-Based Medicine in General Practice: A Competency Framework Derived from a Systematic Review and Delphi Process, click here to view.
Comparative Effectiveness of Prostate Cancer Treatments for Patient-Centered Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA Compliant), click here to view.
AMCP Partnership Forum: Driving Value and Outcomes in Oncology, click here to view.
Real-World Evidence and the Behavioral Economics of Physician Prescribing, click here to view.
Verification of Decision-Analytic Models for Health Economic Evaluations: An Overview, click here to view
Design and Baseline Data from a PCORI-Funded Randomized Controlled Trial of Family-Centered Tailoring of Diabetes Self-Management Resources, click here to view.
Uninterrupted Dabigatran versus Warfarin for Ablation in Atrial Fibrillation, click here to view
Improving Recruitment and Retention Rates in a Randomized Controlled Trial, click here to view
Access to Non-Statin Lipid Lowering Therapies in Patients at High-Risk of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease, click here to view
Reevaluating Eligibility Criteria — Balancing Patient Protection and Participation in Oncology Trials, click here to view
Comparative Effectiveness in Urology: A State of the Art Review Utilizing a Systematic Approach, click here to view
The Relationship Between Adherence and Total Spending Among Medicare Beneficiaries With Type 2 Diabetes, click here to view
Policies for Use of Real-World Data in Health Technology Assessment (HTA): A Comparative Study of Six HTA Agencies, click here to view
Clinical Patient Registry Recruitment and Retention: A Survey of Patients in Two Chronic Disease Registries, click here to view
Healthcare Costs and Medication Adherence Among Patients with Fibromyalgia: Combination Medication vs. Duloxetine, Milnacipran, Venlafaxine, and Pregabalin Initiators, click here to view.
12. AHRQ Effective Program Updates
Tympanostomy Tubes in Children with Otitis Media -- Final Report, click here to view
Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee: An Update Review -- Final Report, click here to view.
Assessment Tools for Palliative Care -- Final Report, click here to view.
Noninvasive, Nonpharmacological Treatment for Chronic Pain, click here to view.
The Role of Immunotherapy in the Treatment of Asthma, click here to view
Preventing Complications and Treating Symptoms of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy -- Final Report, click here to view.
Systematic Review of Intermittent Inhaled Corticosteroids and of Long-acting Muscarinic Antagonists for Asthma, click here to view.
Interventions to Prevent Age-Related Cognitive Decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Clinical Alzheimer's-Type Dementia -- Final Report, click here to view
First- and Second-Generation Antipsychotics in Children and Young Adults: Systematic Review Update -- Final Report, click here to view.
Strategies for Improving the Lives of Women Aged 40 and Above Living With HIV/AIDS -- Disposition of Comments, click here to view.
Physiologic Predictors of the Need for Trauma Center Care: A Systematic Review -- Research Protocol, click here to view.
Treatments for Adults with Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review, click here to view.
Anxiety in Children, click here to view.
Patient Safety in Ambulatory Settings -- Disposition of Comments Report, click here to view.