Published May 25, 2016

Washington, DC—May 25, 2016—The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) 21st Annual International Meeting Workshop 23—Methodologies for Evaluating Geospatial Access in Medication Use Studies—was held this afternoon in Washington, DC, USA. The discussion leaders for the session included:

• Rajesh Balkrishnan, PhD, Professor, Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• Xi Tan, PhD, PharmD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Systems and Policy, West Virginia University, School of Pharmacy, Morgantown, WV, USA
• Joseph Donohoe, PhD, Informatics and Special Projects Lead, Mountain-Pacific Quality Health, Helena, Helena, MT, USA

Large database studies that analyze health outcomes for medications often find significant variation in utilization due to differential geographical access. Discussion leaders reviewed newer measures and techniques of geospatial access to medications, including two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA), geographic hot spot analyses, and geographic weighted regression in evaluating the access and utilization of adjuvant endocrine therapy in breast cancer survivors residing in Appalachia, a poor and underserved region in the US with significant geospatial access issues. Presentations and slide decks from the ISPOR 21st Annual International meeting can be found here. Interested parties can follow news and developments from the meeting on social media using the hashtag #ISPORDC.

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