CADTH Symposium Examines Tough Questions About Assessing Value in Health Care

Logo : 2017 CADTH Symposium (CNW Group/Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH))

OTTAWA, April 21, 2017 /CNW/ - As health care spending continues to grow, the need to derive maximum value from every health care dollar becomes increasingly essential. But when value means different things to different stakeholders, how do we define it, measure it, and incorporate it into the effective assessment and management of health technologies?

These questions will be top of mind for the more than 800 people attending the 2017 CADTH Symposium in Ottawa this week. Representing every province and territory in Canada, as well as 12 other countries, the participants include academics, health care and government decision-makers, health practitioners, and patient and industry representatives.

Titled "Measuring Value in Theory and the Real World," the CADTH Symposium will be taking a hard look at the issue of value in health care. Some aspects of the value equation are widely acknowledged, such as improving clinical outcomes, providing equitable access to necessary services, using technologies in an appropriate manner, and ceasing to pay for technologies that have no evidence of benefit. However, depending on one's perspective, the definition of value might also include faster access to services, affordability, patient preferences, promoting innovation, or a range of other ethical, legal, or social considerations.

"Everyone likes to talk about value, but, in my experience, there's little consensus on value in health care because it means different things to different stakeholders," says Dr. Brian O'Rourke, President and CEO of CADTH. "We all bring different perspectives to the conversation, which is why I'm looking forward to the CADTH Symposium, where we are bringing together patients, clinicians, industry representatives, and policy-makers for interesting debates about value in health care — providing excellent opportunities to learn from one another."

Running from April 23 to April 25, 2017, the CADTH Symposium covers a range of topics including respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis perspectives; the rise of artificial intelligence; complexities of precision medicine; the potential of using real-world data; fair pricing of pharmaceuticals; and incorporating the patient and caregiver views in health care decision-making.

Program highlights include:

• Dr. Danielle Martin, who will share ideas from her new book Better Now: Six Big Ideas to Improve Health Care for All Canadians
• three plenary session panels:
• "Measuring Value in Theory and the Real World," which addresses whether there is common ground shared by patients, industry, and health care systems
• "Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement," which explores how the rise of patient-focused health care is changing how all sectors engage with one another
• "Aligning Regulation and Reimbursement," which examines the value of starting reimbursement assessments during a technology's approval process to reduce the time it takes for decisions about whether a new technology will be covered by the public system.

In addition, the CADTH Symposium will hold 16 workshops, and 46 panels and oral presentation sessions.

For details about the 2017 CADTH Symposium, view the conference program. Follow CADTH on Twitter (@CADTH_ACMTS) and join the Symposium conversation using the hashtag #CADTHSymp.

About CADTH
CADTH is an independent, not-for-profit organization responsible for providing Canada's health care decision-makers with objective evidence to help make informed decisions about the optimal use of drugs and medical devices in our health care system. CADTH receives funding from Canada's federal, provincial, and territorial governments, with the exception of Quebec.

SOURCE Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH)

Andrea Tiwari, Communications Officer, CADTH, 613 226 2553 ext. 1247, [email protected]