Presidential Fireside Chat: ISPOR Initiatives in Communication and Outreach

In my incoming Presidential address last May, I outlined three areas that I believe are critical for ISPOR's continued success: 1) increasing our efforts to “internationalize” our society; 2) striving for excellence in all of our activities and monitoring our progress; and 3) expanding our outreach and communication efforts. In my previous two fireside chats, (ISPOR CONNECTIONS, September/October, 2005 and November/December 2005), I focused on the first two themes. Here I turn to the third: communication and outreach.

Communication
I have long believed that we can do more to promote the good work of ISPOR. Our annual meetings/congresses and publications offer ideal vehicles.

Clinical meetings, such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), have become tremendous generators of news. In some ways that reflects their size and medical focus. However, it also reflects a deliberate and increasingly sophisticated attempt to engage the media. Furthermore, it signals a strong sense from these organizations that their work warrants broad exposure to diverse and lay audiences. I believe that we can learn from these efforts.

 In similar fashion, I believe that we can learn from the growing number of medical and health policy journals, from The New England Journal of Medicine to Health Affairs, which maintain strong communications and media-relations capabilities.

There are a number of benefits that would likely come from expanding our communications activities. The first is that it would help us translate our research into concrete policies - and help move health systems forward so that decisions better reflect evidence of value. Our work in pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research should resonate with varied audiences, including payers, physicians, patients, and the media.

The second likely benefit is an improvement in our own work. The practice of communicating well -- to scientific audiences and to audiences unschooled in our methods - will help us shape and focus our analyses.

Third, it should also produce collateral benefits. Greater visibility will help us attract new members and strengthen ties with existing ones.

To be sure, expanding communications presents challenges. Some of our work is technical in nature and not easily translated. Some of our studies are purely methodological. Moreover, communications requires resources. Still, I believe we should move forward energetically. We should not simply communicate within our own field, but more aggressively seek to translate our work for broader consumption. We should redouble efforts to invite the press to the annual meetings (only small handfull attend our annual meetings today). Authors of articles and presenters at meetings should think harder about translating their work for non-experts.

Many of our studies are applied analyses with potentially broad appeal. Even some methodological studies may find audiences that surprise us. The Wall Street Journal recently featured a front-page story on the National Institute of Clinical Excellence that discussed the concept of costs per QALY at some length.

 I am pleased to say that we have begun to make strides in these areas. For the 2005 International Annual Meeting, a “Public Awareness” initiative was implemented. Reviewers of abstracts now indicate whether the results of a study will contribute to the health care improvement of society and whether the public should be made aware of the analysis. In the future we will use this information to identify and motivate abstract authors to prepare a press release for their study.

ISPOR and our journal, Value in Health, have begun issuing press releases on a regular basis. They can be found at ISPOR website, www.ispor.org/pressrelease/index.asp. In the past year, communications has also become a higher priority for ISPOR staff, with Daniel Klim assuming a greater role in this area.

The ISPOR Communications Task Force, led by John Hornberger and Mark Nuijten, recently reported on ways to bridge the communications gap between the health outcomes community and health care decision makers. The Task Force has worked to explore what is known about effective communications of outcomes research findings, to identify gaps, and to propose solutions for ISPOR.

Outreach One aspect of outreach involves partnering with other associations. In principle, partnering is a good idea and offers many possible benefits for ISPOR. It can enrich our own experiences and help us spread the word about the value of our work. It can also lead to new interactions, new contacts, and new members.

However, partnering needs to be done strategically. With whom should we partner? One possibility is to collaborate with an organization focused on methods of outcomes research. We might co-sponsor a methodological workshop, for example. Another is to partner with a medical association. We might offer a slate of courses at major clinical meetings, for example.

Another aspect of outreach is to reach out more aggressively to medical device and biotechnology companies. We now have active ISPOR Medical Device and Diagnostics Councils for North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, and we will soon launch a new council devoted to the biotechnology community.

A final and perhaps most important aspect of outreach involve reaching out to public and private payers who can benefit from the work. This is a longstanding priority for our society. ISPOR has undertaken a number of initiatives aimed at having a “seat at the table.” A prime example is the U.S. Medicare program's recently released draft guidance on “Coverage with Evidence Development.” ISPOR was one of 65 organizations to provide comments on the draft guidance. The Task Force on Real World Data helped to coordinate and draft the remarks.

In the future, we look forward to expanding on all of these efforts. To achieve success we need commitment not only from ISPOR staff and leadership and from Value in Health, but also from our members. ISPOR's stated mission is to “translate pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research into practice to ensure that society allocates scarce health care resources wisely, fairly, and efficiently.” Good communications and outreach are vital to our success.

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