PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 7, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) will hold its 17th Annual European Congress in Amsterdam from November 8-12, 2014. The theme of this year's congress is: "New Challenges for Improving European Health Care," and co-chairs, Carin A. Uyl-de Groot and Finn Børlum Kristensen explain the importance of this year's congress theme: "Slow economic growth and high public debt levels have put pressure on all European Union (EU) health systems. Although there are great differences between the EU countries, they all have to face an increase in demand for health care. The topic of the Congress is to find an answer to the question of how we can move to health systems in which health care delivery is affordable on the one hand and with the highest possible quality on the other hand."
During the first plenary session, 'Creating Sustainable Health Systems in Europe,' the presenters will focus on how to deliver affordable cancer care; how to move towards integrated care systems; and how to match performance-based payment systems with the possibilities of differential pricing across Europe. In addition, special attention will be given to the needs of Central and Eastern European countries. Speakers for the first plenary session include: Richard Sullivan, who will present on, "Delivering Affordable Cancer Care;" Maureen Rutten-van Mölken, who will present on, "Health Care Reform In Europe: Moving Towards Integrated Care and Matching Performance-Based Payment Systems;" and Zoltán Kaló and Lieven Annemans, who will present on, "Differential Pricing Across Europe – Addressing Central And Eastern European Country Needs."
During the second plenary session, 'Earlier Access to Innovation – Is it Worth It?,' adaptive licensing, coverage with evidence development, and other programs to deal with evidence uncertainty will be presented. Speakers include: Hans-Georg Eichler, who will present the regulatory agency perspective; Richard Bergström, who will present the industry perspective, and Alric Rüther and Carole Longson who will provide the health technology assessment (HTA) agency perspective.
Finally, due to a growing interest in real world evidence, reimbursement agencies and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), are looking for answers to questions such as: "Can we generate 'real world' observational data?"; "How do we deal with bias and confounding?"; and "How can we use health care databases in outcomes research?" As a result, the third plenary session will address, 'Health Care Evidence: Can We Get to the Real World?' Presenters include: Lars Pedersen, who will present on whether Nordic Healthcare Registries provide real improvement to outcomes research; Hilary Pinnock, who will discuss, real-life practice in pragmatic trials; and Sebastian Schneeweiss, who will present strategies to reduce bias and increase meaningfulness of findings from real world data.
Additional highlighted sessions include:
- Patient Registries as Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Tools in Economic Outcomes Research
- A Look at Adequate Data Generation to Meet the Differing Requirements of Multiple HTA & Reimbursement Bodies in Europe
- How to do Value-Based Assessment Calculations for NICE
- Decision Making in Health Care Based on Economic Evaluation: Experiences from European Countries
- Integrating the Patient Perspective in the Assessment of Benefits and Risks of Medicines
- How Desirable, Feasible, & Acceptable is the Inclusion of Real-World Evidence in HTA Decision Making Across Europe?
The ISPOR 17th Annual European Congress also includes two days of educational courses. Over 4,000 researchers, decision makers, and health technology assessors from over 50 countries are expected to attend.
Register for the ISPOR 17th Annual European Congress.
Are you a member of the press? For information on obtaining a press pass to attend the Congress, please see: ISPOR 17th Euro Press Pass.
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Portions of this press release were reproduced from Amsterdam: The Place to be for Novelty, with permission from The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR).
ABOUT ISPOR
The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) is a nonprofit, international, educational, and scientific organization with over 8600 members from 115 countries (and over 7500 members from ISPOR's 73 Regional Chapters around the world). ISPOR strives to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and fairness of health care resource use to improve health. To learn more about ISPOR, please visit: www.ispor.org. Media Contact: Danielle Mroz, MA, Director, Communications, ISPOR (dmroz@ispor.org).