Faculty: Diego Rosselli MD Neurologist, MEd (Harvard), MHP (London School of Economics), Independent Consultant and Lecturer, National Academy of Medicine, Bogotá, Colombia; Adolfo Rubinstein MD, MSc, PhD, President, Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy (IECS) & Director of the Master´s Program in Clinical Effectiveness, Faculty of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina

Introduction to Modeling Methods

Faculty: Federico Augustovski MD, MSc, Director, Health Economic Evaluation and Technology Assessment, Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy (IECS), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Marcelo Fonseca MD, MSc, Assistant Physician at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Manager of the Research Management Office, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), & Scientific Director, AxiaBio, São Paulo, Brazil.

Course Description: This course includes a review of Markov models, discrete event models, and other modeling techniques and their appropriate applications, including a review of the ISPOR Principles of Good Practice for Decision Analytic Modeling in Health Care Evaluations. Using a series of related examples, the course will carefully review the practical steps involved in developing and using these kinds of models. Examples will be presented using predominantly Microsoft Excel, supplemented with add on simulation software. This course will cover the practical steps involved in the selection and modeling of data inputs and practical aspects related to the determination of when, why and how to handle stochastic (i.e., first order Monte Carlo Simulations) and probabilistic uncertainty (i.e., second order Monte Carlo Simulations). Issues related to the selection of model input parameters and their distributions for use in probabilistic sensitivity analyses will be considered. Participants will learn the steps required in conducting, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting results from probabilistic sensitivity analyses (e.g. using analyses of the cost-effectiveness plane, the "ellipses", and acceptability curves). This introductory course requires a familiarity with decision analysis.

Extracting Cost Data for Economic Analysis in Latin America

Faculty: Gabriela Tannus Branco de Araújo MBA, Health Economics Director, AxiaBio Consulting, São Paulo, Brazil; Walter Toro Jiménez MD, PhD, Institutional Action Manager, UEN Specialized Therapeutics and Oncology, Bayer S.A. – Colombia, Bayer Schering Pharma, Bogotá, Colombia

Course Description: This course will focus on practical aspects of cost development for pharmacoeconomic studies. The objective is to help the participant bridge the gap between understanding pharmacoeconomic theory and the practice of developing cost estimates. Factors to consider when costing pharmacoeconomic analyses, such as perspective, data sources, data classification systems, developing resource use profiles, obtaining unit costs, and making cost adjustments will be presented. Examples of issues encountered when identifying and extracting cost data will be discussed. This course is designed for those with some experience with pharmacoeconomic analysis.

Introduction to Meta-Analysis and Systematic Literature Review for Use in Health Technology Assessment

Faculty: Agustín Ciapponi MD, Family and Community Medical Service, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires & Argentine Cochrane Centre Coordinator, Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy (IECS) & Iberoamerican Cochrane Network, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Márcio Machado PharmD, PhD, Research Fellow at Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto & Senior Research Associate, PharmIdeas Research and Consulting Inc., Oakville, ON, Canada

Course Description: Systematic literature review and meta-analytic methods to assess the quality of evidence for health care interventions will be discussed. Statistical approaches to pooling results from several studies and application of meta-analysis in pharmacoeconomics studies and health care decision-making will be presented. This course is designed for individuals with little experience with meta-analysis.

Discrete Event Simulation

Faculty: J. Jaime Caro MDCM, FDRPC, FAPC, Adjunct Professor of Medicine, Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal PQ and Scientific Director, Caro Research Institute, Concord, MA, USA

Course Description: This course will provide a basic understanding of the key concepts of discrete event simulation. The focus will be on the use of these simulation models to address pharmacoeconomic (and device-related) problems. The course will be structured around practical exercises. Topics to be covered are: Why DES? Dynamic simulation as a tool; Components of a DES; How do you build a model? Modeling of processes and resource use; Modeling of variables and decisions. If time permits, simple animation will be demonstrated. We will use ARENA to build simple models. Instructors will distribute training versions of Arena. This course is designed for those with some experience with modeling.

Applied Modeling

Faculty: Sebastián García Martí MD, Coordinator, Health Technology Assessment Group, Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy (IECS), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Jorge Guzmán MD, Access Manager, Novartis Oncology - Mexico, Colonia San Diego Churubisco, Mexico

Course Description: This course is a hands-on introduction to the use of software in the creation and analysis of cost-effectiveness decision models. The basics of cost-effectiveness decision making, building and analyzing a simple decision tree will be discussed. Markov modeling and Monte Carlo simulation will be introduced. All participants must bring a Windows laptop computer with a copy of TreeAge Pro Suite installed and running. You will be provided download and installation instructions when you pre-register for the course. All participants will receive a cd-rom at the training.

Quality of Life / Patient-Reported Outcomes Assessment

Faculty: Rafael Alfonso MD, ISPOR Colombia Local Chapter President, Bogotá, Colombia and PhD student, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; Hermilo Arturo Cabra MED, Heath Economics Specialist, Johnson and Johnson Medical Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico

Course Description: Conceptual, methodological, and practical methods for measuring quality of life, health status and other types of health outcomes will be presented. Health outcomes measurement instruments (conceptual and measurement models, reliability, validity, responsiveness, interpretability, respondent and administrative burden, alternate forms and cultural and language adaptation) will be discussed. This course is designed for individuals with little experience with quality-of-life instruments.

Development of Pharmacoeconomic Guidelines in Developing Countries

Faculty: Leonardo Cubillos Turriago MD, MPH, National Director of Assurance, Ministry of Social Protection, Bogotá, Colombia; Atanacio Valencia Mendoza, Medical Sciences Researcher, Department of Health Economics and Evaluation, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

Course Description: Countries considering introducing the requirement of pharmacoeconomic data for drug coverage policy decisions can learn from experiences of other countries. This is particularly important for developing countries, such as those in Latin America, where there is resource scarcity to be used in health technology assessment as well as a short supply of data on cost and effectiveness. In contrast with the developed world, the Latin American context requires special attention in (i) technical issues such as the election of the appropriate discount rate or the time horizon, (ii) a series of practical questions such as: Should evidence be requested for all new drugs?, or just some?, How should drugs be prioritized for evaluation? Should data from other countries be accepted? If so which? and (iii) Political economy aspects such as: How can consensus be achieved on the guidelines among the key stakeholders?, How can society move from discretional decision-making to pharmacoeconomic evidence-based decision making?, How can the affected stakeholders by the use of pharmacoeconomic evidence de identified?, How can political support be achieved in the development process of the pharmacoeconomic guidelines?

This workshop will share the Colombian and Mexican experiences in the development of pharmacoeconomic guidelines by summarizing the state-of-the-art in technical issues worldwide and addressing practical and political questions such as those listed above with the hope that other countries considering the development of national pharmaceutical guidelines can benefit from the lessons learned and streamline the development of their own national guidelines.