Building Effective Health Economic Outcomes Research (HEOR) Teams
How to build an effective health economic and outcomes research team
Health Economic and Outcomes Research (HEOR) teams play a critical market access role from refining clinical research and building a brand’s value proposition to informing post-marketing reviews. As the demands of payer, regulator and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) agencies grow, what does a modern and effective HEOR team look like in 2016?
This expert report analyses the growing pressure points on HEOR teams and identifies the essential staff talents, organisational positioning, external providers and evaluation criteria needed to deliver persuasive HEOR in a demanding market.
“The role of HEOR is to enable long-term market access to therapies, not only the strict cost-utility analysis but going further and helping market access teams to provide an understanding of the value of a therapy.”
Vice President, Market Access, Health Policy and Medical Affairs
Top 10 Vaccines Manufacturer
Answering key questions
Expert contributors to this report include senior HEOR and market access professionals working in leading pharma companies. To ensure candid views were expressed their identities have been kept anonymous.
FirstWord is an innovative industry intelligence leader serving over 240,000 Pharma and MedTech professionals worldwide. FirstWord offers a range of products and services designed to help your company gain a competitive edge by making key business decisions with speed and confidence.
FirstWord Pharma PLUS is a personalised and comprehensive intelligence service delivering up-to-the-minute pharma news, insight, analysis and expert views of importance to your company’s success.
FirstWord Reports deliver timely, need-to-know intelligence about your products, your competitors and your markets. Covering biosimilars, market access, medical affairs, sales & marketing, technology and therapy areas, FirstWord Reports provide expert views and intelligence on the challenges facing pharma today.
Health Economic and Outcomes Research (HEOR) teams play a critical market access role from refining clinical research and building a brand’s value proposition to informing post-marketing reviews. As the demands of payer, regulator and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) agencies grow, what does a modern and effective HEOR team look like in 2016?
This expert report analyses the growing pressure points on HEOR teams and identifies the essential staff talents, organisational positioning, external providers and evaluation criteria needed to deliver persuasive HEOR in a demanding market.
“The role of HEOR is to enable long-term market access to therapies, not only the strict cost-utility analysis but going further and helping market access teams to provide an understanding of the value of a therapy.”
Vice President, Market Access, Health Policy and Medical Affairs
Top 10 Vaccines Manufacturer
Answering key questions
- Payer/HTA pressures: Growing and specific payer/HTA requests for data and supporting evidence is demanding on an HEOR team’s time. How can companies optimise their resources?
- Where’s the money? Investment in HEOR is increasing, but demands and workloads are expanding even faster. Can pharma get a head of the funding curve?
- Early engagement: How, when and why should pharma involve HEOR teams in clinical research planning?
- HEOR Organisation: Medical affairs? Market access? Does it matter?
- Outside help: In what circumstances can external consultants bring value to HEOR and what are the key management issues concerning their engagement?
- Skills gap: How can you recruit, train, reward and retain hard-to-come-by HEOR staff and should employers be looking beyond health economists for talent?
- Performance Management: What evaluation techniques and metrics can be employed to measure HEOR team performance?
- Payer/HTA demands for specific evidence and data is outstripping pharma’s investment in HEOR. Given its importance for commercial success, isn’t it time pharma rethought the level of investment in HEOR?
- Finding staff that combine good technical skill with capabilities for delivering complex data persuasively to multiple stakeholders is a big ask. Where should recruiters be looking and what are the essential skills needed?
- Opinion differs about where HEOR should sit organisationally, but cross-functional teams are critical to achieving the end result.
- Not just bean counters: evaluating HEOR team members and team performance needs to look at much more than activity levels, so what are the options for measuring success?
Expert contributors to this report include senior HEOR and market access professionals working in leading pharma companies. To ensure candid views were expressed their identities have been kept anonymous.
- A Vice President, Market Access, Health Policy and Medical Affairs within a top 10 vaccine manufacturer
- A Senior Vice President, Global Regulation, Healthcare Policy and Corporate Affairs within a top 50 global pharmaceutical manufacturer
- A Senior Health Economics and Outcomes Research Manager, UK and Ireland within a top 50 global pharmaceutical manufacturer
- A Senior Director, Global Outcomes & Epidemiology within a top 50 global pharmaceutical manufacturer
- A Health Economics Director, Europe, within a top 50 global pharmaceutical manufacturer
- A Vice President, Health Economics and Outcomes Research within a top 10 global pharmaceutical manufacturer
- A Head of Market Access, Oncology, UK, within a top 10 global pharmaceutical manufacturer
- A Director, Medical Policy-Access Research at a top 10 global pharmaceutical manufacturer
FirstWord is an innovative industry intelligence leader serving over 240,000 Pharma and MedTech professionals worldwide. FirstWord offers a range of products and services designed to help your company gain a competitive edge by making key business decisions with speed and confidence.
FirstWord Pharma PLUS is a personalised and comprehensive intelligence service delivering up-to-the-minute pharma news, insight, analysis and expert views of importance to your company’s success.
FirstWord Reports deliver timely, need-to-know intelligence about your products, your competitors and your markets. Covering biosimilars, market access, medical affairs, sales & marketing, technology and therapy areas, FirstWord Reports provide expert views and intelligence on the challenges facing pharma today.
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY
3. SETTING THE SCENE
3.1. Key findings
3.2. Increasing demand for HEOR
3.2.1. The rise of payers
3.2.2. HEOR helps demonstrate value to payers
3.2.3. HEOR crucial for access and commercial success
3.2.4. Successful companies have skilled HEOR teams
3.2.5. HEOR vital in Europe
3.3. Industry has responded to the demands for HEOR
3.4. Increase in HEOR workload predicted
4. THE HEOR TEAM
4.1. Key findings
4.2. Investing in HEOR
4.2.1. Development of dedicated HEOR teams
4.2.2. Building the team to reflect the pipeline and portfolio
4.2.3. Lean HEOR teams
4.3. Capabilities and skills needed in the HEOR team
4.3.1. Challenging to recruit to HEOR teams
4.3.2. Qualifications are sought after, but experience counts
4.3.3. The goal is to have well-rounded HEOR teams
4.3.4. Soft skills crucial even in a technical team like HEOR
4.4. Responsibilities of the HEOR team
4.4.1. Not just for models and HTA.
4.4.2. Identifying and filling evidence gaps
4.4.3. Submission to HTA agencies and ongoing engagement
4.4.4. Going further than submissions: shaping policy
4.4.5. HEOR teams have to explain their HTA strategy internally
4.5.1. Training and support
4.5.2. Bring in the right people from the start
4.5.3. Tailor training to the needs of individuals
4.5.5. Invest in communication skills
5. HEOR OVER THE PRODUCT LIFECYCLE
5.1. Key findings
5.2. HEOR crucial throughout the life cycle of a product
5.2.1. Early involvement of HEOR
5.2.2. HEOR involvement crucial going into Phase III
5.2.3. HEOR work intensifies in the run-up to launch
5.2.4. Still work to be done post launch
6. HEOR AND ENGAGING WITH PAYERS
6.1. Key findings
6.1.1. HEOR teams often support colleagues who work with budget holders
6.1.2. HEOR teams liaise with HTA agencies
7. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND INCENTIVES FOR HEOR TEAMS
7.1. Key findings
7.2. The challenge of measuring the impact of HEOR
7.3. Evolution in performance metrics: from deliverables to impact
7.4. Rewarded just like other staff at the company
5. HEOR WITHIN THE BROADER STRUCTURE OF COMPANIES
5.1. Key findings
5.2. Diverse approaches to reporting
5.3. Cross-company working key
6. THE BALANCE BETWEEN IN-HOUSE AND OUT‑OF-HOUSE
6.1. Key findings
6.2. Outsourcing provides key support to HEOR teams
7. HEOR IN THE FUTURE
7.1. Key findings
7.2. HEOR will remain crucial but will need to change
2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY
3. SETTING THE SCENE
3.1. Key findings
3.2. Increasing demand for HEOR
3.2.1. The rise of payers
3.2.2. HEOR helps demonstrate value to payers
3.2.3. HEOR crucial for access and commercial success
3.2.4. Successful companies have skilled HEOR teams
3.2.5. HEOR vital in Europe
3.3. Industry has responded to the demands for HEOR
3.4. Increase in HEOR workload predicted
4. THE HEOR TEAM
4.1. Key findings
4.2. Investing in HEOR
4.2.1. Development of dedicated HEOR teams
4.2.2. Building the team to reflect the pipeline and portfolio
4.2.3. Lean HEOR teams
4.3. Capabilities and skills needed in the HEOR team
4.3.1. Challenging to recruit to HEOR teams
4.3.2. Qualifications are sought after, but experience counts
4.3.3. The goal is to have well-rounded HEOR teams
4.3.4. Soft skills crucial even in a technical team like HEOR
4.4. Responsibilities of the HEOR team
4.4.1. Not just for models and HTA.
4.4.2. Identifying and filling evidence gaps
4.4.3. Submission to HTA agencies and ongoing engagement
4.4.4. Going further than submissions: shaping policy
4.4.5. HEOR teams have to explain their HTA strategy internally
4.5.1. Training and support
4.5.2. Bring in the right people from the start
4.5.3. Tailor training to the needs of individuals
4.5.5. Invest in communication skills
5. HEOR OVER THE PRODUCT LIFECYCLE
5.1. Key findings
5.2. HEOR crucial throughout the life cycle of a product
5.2.1. Early involvement of HEOR
5.2.2. HEOR involvement crucial going into Phase III
5.2.3. HEOR work intensifies in the run-up to launch
5.2.4. Still work to be done post launch
6. HEOR AND ENGAGING WITH PAYERS
6.1. Key findings
6.1.1. HEOR teams often support colleagues who work with budget holders
6.1.2. HEOR teams liaise with HTA agencies
7. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND INCENTIVES FOR HEOR TEAMS
7.1. Key findings
7.2. The challenge of measuring the impact of HEOR
7.3. Evolution in performance metrics: from deliverables to impact
7.4. Rewarded just like other staff at the company
5. HEOR WITHIN THE BROADER STRUCTURE OF COMPANIES
5.1. Key findings
5.2. Diverse approaches to reporting
5.3. Cross-company working key
6. THE BALANCE BETWEEN IN-HOUSE AND OUT‑OF-HOUSE
6.1. Key findings
6.2. Outsourcing provides key support to HEOR teams
7. HEOR IN THE FUTURE
7.1. Key findings
7.2. HEOR will remain crucial but will need to change
