In a letter to the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) Chairman Tony Coelho provided feedback on ICER's draft evidence report for acute migraines. Chairman Coelho criticized the report for making an "oversimplified assumption" that there are no mortality effects in migraine treatment, citing that a number of people with more severe types of migraine have higher rates of all-cause mortality in both men and women. He also reiterated PIPC's concern with ICER's use of the QALY, saying that it is not an appropriate methodology for use in assessments where the patient population is heterogeneous. "ICER continues to overlook outcomes that matter to patients in favor of overly simplistic QALY-based models," wrote Chairman Coelho. "We urge ICER to be more thoughtful in its model construction and take seriously the feedback from patients and clinicians who are experts in migraine attacks."
The letter in its entirety can be read here.
| pipc_migraine_comments_final.pdf |