Valuing Obesity Treatments: An Application of Generalized Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (GCEA)

PURPOSE:

The obesity treatment landscape is rapidly evolving with recent approvals of highly effective therapies (e.g., glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists) and a robust pipeline advancing products testing different mechanisms of action. These current and future treatments have the potential to alleviate the significant societal burden of obesity, improving quality of life for patients and generating long-term savings. However, insurance coverage for these innovative therapies remains limited currently. Understanding the value of these treatments from different stakeholders is essential to informing healthcare decision-making in obesity.

This workshop will discuss the value of obesity treatments from the perspectives of different stakeholders in the healthcare system, identify similarities and differences in value elements across stakeholders, and then demonstrate how to incorporate stakeholder priorities using generalized cost-effectiveness analysis (GCEA) to assess the value of obesity treatments from a societal perspective.

DESCRIPTION:

Tess Cameron will first provide an overview of the treatment landscape, describe the potential benefits, and highlight the importance of understanding the societal value of obesity treatments (10 minutes). Tom Hubbard will outline the key value elements from the perspectives of patients and employers identified from extensive stakeholder engagement and research conducted by NEHI (10 minutes). Mike Sherman, former Chief Medical Officer with Point32Health, a major payor, will discuss the value elements from a payor perspective, and key considerations and challenges in coverage and reimbursement decision-making (10 minutes). Built on the value elements from different stakeholders, Alison Sexton Ward will illustrate how to apply GCEA to incorporate stakeholder priorities, and discuss implications for decision-making (10 minutes).

The workshop will end with Q&A with the audience (20 minutes). Polling questions will be used throughout to elicit key challenges in modeling obesity treatments and prioritized approaches in modeling. This workshop will be relevant for a wide range of stakeholders including patients, employers, payors, modelers, and value assessors.