Health Equity Research

• Advance novel methods for assessing the health equity impacts of decisions on unfair differences in health, including application of equity-informative cost-effectiveness analysis across markets, conditions, and payer types.
• Establish a forum for members to engage in discussion related to the challenges of measuring and addressing health inequities in HEOR and healthcare decision making.
• Foster multi-stakeholder dialogue between policy makers, regulators, payers, advocacy groups, prescribers, patients, and researchers about health equity considerations at all stages of decision making from inclusive clinical trials through health technology assessment (HTA) and implementation.
• Improve data sources used by the HEOR community to study health inequities.

Health equity is a long-standing and increasingly high-profile concern in healthcare and public health decision-making. Although terminology varies between disciplines and countries, terms such as “health disparities” (used in the USA), “health inequalities” (used in the UK) and “health inequities” (used by the World Health Organization) all signify a shared concern to reduce unfair differences in health, healthcare and financial protection from the costs of healthcare. The field of Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) is well suited to support this endeavor and affect positive change. The choices we make in healthcare innovation, reimbursement, and access can widen or reduce the health inequities seen across the world today. However, although an emphasis on equity is consistent across the mission statements of health technology agencies and healthcare research organizations worldwide, there is currently limited collection and analysis of data about the impacts of decisions on health inequities. With its rich patient- and disease-level data, empiric approach to scientific study, and strong track record of providing useful information to support decision-making, the tools of HEOR can be fruitfully used to study and improve health equity