ISPOR's History
ISPOR was established in 1995 by a small group of dedicated volunteers and visionaries with the goal of serving as a catalyst to advance the science and practice of health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) around the world. The Society was originally known as the Association for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (APOR) and led by its founding Executive Director, Marilyn Dix Smith, PhD.
As the field of HEOR has grown, so has ISPOR. The Society's membership has expanded from just 240 members at its founding to more than 19,000 individual and chapter members from 110+ countries worldwide. As a multistakeholder organization, the Society's membership includes a wide variety of healthcare stakeholders, including researchers and academicians, assessors and regulators, payers and policy makers, the life sciences industry, healthcare providers, and patient engagement organizations.
The Growing Importance of Health Economics and Outcomes Research
As governments and other payers increasingly grapple with how to provide the best possible health outcomes at affordable costs, interest in the understanding and application of HEOR has grown dramatically. ISPOR is dedicated to the goal of improving healthcare decision making because we believe that every healthcare decision should be informed by the best scientific research. The Society has served as an unbiased resource and catalyst for innovation in the field for more than 25 years.
ISPOR's Work
ISPOR is the leading source for scientific conferences, peer-reviewed and MEDLINE®-indexed publications, good practices guidance, education, collaboration, and tools/resources in the HEOR field.
Serving its multistakeholder membership, the Society offers:
Scientific Conferences
ISPOR's global scientific conferences convene key healthcare decision makers and thought leaders in the field and include:
ISPOR
An annual international conference and member meeting that convenes nearly 4000 registrants and is held annually in North America.
ISPOR Europe
An annual conference that convenes more than 5000 registrants to discuss the challenges facing the healthcare systems across Europe.
ISPOR Asia Pacific Summit
A biennial summit that convenes approximately 1000 registrants to discuss trends and policies in healthcare systems in the Asia Pacific region.
ISPOR Latin America Summit
A biennial conference that convenes approximately 1000 registrants to discuss trends and policies in the healthcare systems in Latin America.
Regional Conferences
Conferences that focus on HEOR issues in a specific region and convene approximately 500 registrants (eg, ISPOR Dubai).
Summits
Smaller, topically focused conferences that concentrate on specialized topics in the field of HEOR (eg, value assessment frameworks, real-world evidence).
View Upcoming Conferences
Publications
ISPOR publishes 2 peer-reviewed and MEDLINE®-indexed publications.
Value in Health
Value in Health, the Society's flagship publication, has an impact factor of 5.725 and is ranked 4th of 88 journals in health policy and services, 9th of 108 journals in healthcare sciences and services, and 24th of 376 journals in economics.
Value in Health Regional Issues
Value in Health Regional Issues publishes articles on health-related topics that impact the health systems and health policies in the following regions: 1) Asia; 2) Central and Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and Africa; and 3) Latin America.
Value & Outcomes Spotlight
Value & Outcomes Spotlight is a bimonthly publication for the global HEOR community that focuses on health policy and methodological issues.
Good Practices Reports
ISPOR has earned an international reputation for research excellence based, in part on its Good Practices Reports. These highly cited reports are expert consensus guidance recommendations on good practice standards for research and on the use of this research in healthcare decision making. All ISPOR Good Practices Reports are published in the Society’s scientific journal, Value in Health, and are made freely available as part of the Society’s mission.
Education and Training
ISPOR's Essential HEOR Education offerings provide training in a wide array of topics that span all professional levels. Offerings include:
HEOR Short Courses
The ISPOR HEOR Short Course Program is offered at ISPOR conferences as well as virtually with more than 60 half- to full-day courses offered annually.
Training Programs
ISPOR's in-depth training programs range from 2-day to 5-day courses with topics that include the ISPOR Health Technology Assessment training program.
Webinars
ISPOR also offers live and on-demand webinars on a wide variety of HEOR topics.
Collaboration
ISPOR serves as a convener and catalyst for innovation in the field of HEOR through its working groups, councils, roundtables, and global engagement groups.
HEOR Tools and Resources
In addition to ISPOR's Good Practices Reports, the Society offers a number of other valuable tools and resources that are all freely available as part of its mission to advance the field of HEOR.
Health Technology Assessment Central
Shaping the “New” ISPOR
As a contemporary organization, ISPOR understands the importance of careful reflection and reinvention. Toward that goal, the Society routinely reviews and refines its governance, operations, and business approaches to continuously improve the value of membership. The Society considers its Strategic Plan as a “living document”—something that is regularly evaluated to ensure ISPOR is well positioned and well informed to remain a responsive, effective leader in the field. These and other initiatives are underway in support of ISPOR’s Strategic Plan Update 2024. The ISPOR Science Strategy was also published in 2021, which identifies topical themes that the Society believes will have the greatest impact on both the field of HEOR and global healthcare. The following key initiatives are helping to shape the "new" ISPOR toward our goal of improving member value through continuous improvement.
Governance Initiative
ISPOR recently completed a comprehensive review of the Society’s structure, policies, and procedures to facilitate agile decision making that invites input from all stakeholders and member groups. The recent introduction of new councils, such as the Global Engagement Council, helps ensure that the voice of all ISPOR regional members, chapters, and local governance are considered and reflected in our reports and conferences. The new Patient Council serves as the home for patient engagement activity, and a new Education Council will align educational programs to create synergy and foster greater information sharing worldwide.
Research and Scientific Excellence
ISPOR has restructured its Health Science Policy Council to engage more members to play an active role in shaping the Society’s content development strategies. Every ISPOR council, committee, and group is now represented and actively contributing to the Health Science Policy Council’s various committees. Additionally, the Health Science Policy Council is resourced (with both volunteers and staff) to respond to public calls for comment and to assist other ISPOR groups in strengthening our scientific programs and conferences.
"All Meetings" Assessment
ISPOR’s goal is to produce the most influential conferences for health economics and outcomes research. The "All Meetings Assessment" initiative implemented its own continuous quality improvement program to regularly evaluate feedback from attendees and to critically assess the performance of plenaries sessions and scientific content to ensure that ISPOR conferences and summits remain highly valued and well attended.
Systems and Infrastructure
ISPOR is making thoughtful investments in information technology to strengthen its responsiveness to our members. These new systems will allow us to offer online member engagement activities and tools, and will allow volunteers to customize their member experience.
Communications and Branding
ISPOR recently revamped its communications and branding platforms, including the launch of an updated logo and brand to better reflect its membership and the Society’s leadership position in the field. With 14,000 members in more than 100 countries, ISPOR is reaching across disciplines and across borders with more vibrant and relevant communication approaches to reach and engage a global audience of HEOR professionals. For more information, view our award-winning video that outlines ISPOR’s new branding strategy.
