Published Nov 1, 2016

Vienna, Austria—1 November 2016—The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) held a workshop this morning entitled, The Potential and Pitfalls of Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis to Support Health Technology Assessment. The session took place at the Society’s 19th Annual European Congress in Vienna, Austria. The workshop was led by discussion leaders that included:

• Janine A. van Til, PhD, Assistant Professor Preference Research, Health Technology and Services Research, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
• Rob Baltussen, PhD, Associate Professor Health Economics, Department for Health Evidence, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
• Michele Tringali, MD, Director, HTA Program, Lombardy Region Health Directorate, Milan, Italy
• Susanne Schmitz, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Population Health/Health Economics and Evidence Synthesis Research Unit, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, Luxembourg

The workshop reviewed a number of practical examples to illustrate how health technology assessment (HTA) and reimbursement decisions can be supported with multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). The panelists discussed the apparent fit between MCDA and HTA decision making and reviewed the use of a deliberative approach to MCDA that involves stakeholder consultation. Case studies from the Netherlands, Thailand, and Indonesia were presented and results of a retrospective analysis demonstrated potentially important drivers of reimbursement decisions in Ireland and outlined the challenges of using such information to inform an actual MCDA framework. A number of knowledge products on MCDA have been developed by ISPOR’s Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis in Health Care Decision Making Task Force, including the following Task Force Reports published in Value in Health:

• Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis for Health Care Decision Making—An Introduction: Report 1 of the ISPOR MCDA Emerging Good Practices Task Force (Value Health 2016;19:1-13)
• Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis for Health Care Decision Making—Emerging Good Practices: Report 2 of the ISPOR MCDA Emerging Good Practices Task Force (Value Health 2016;19:125-137)

Additional information on the ISPOR 19th Annual European Congress can be found here. Released presentations from the congress can be found here. Interested parties can follow news and developments from the conference on social media using the hashtag #ISPORVienna.

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