Two years from the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, we are looking to understand the implications of the pandemic on healthcare, both from a disease management and economic perspective. Numerous analyses have reported reductions in healthcare resource utilization, especially early in 2020. Moving forward, health outcomes researchers need to understand the potential impacts of this low utilization on the general population as well as medically complex patients, different socioeconomic groups, different geographic regions, and individuals with varying types of healthcare access regulated via their insurance coverage. Life sciences organizations looking for reliable insights on therapeutic areas of interest and data to support their products continue to turn to real-world evidence (RWE) for answers. However, the actionable insights that researchers can derive from RWE are subject to research methodologies, data availability, and other external factors –such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Join experts from Watson Health and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for a discussion on the implications of the pandemic, and considerations for your outcomes research practice. Backed by in-depth insights from closed-system claims data, supplemented with healthcare consumption survey data, researchers will discuss:

• How delay of diagnosis or alterations in disease management due to the initial pandemic lockdown could have long-term health and economic implications
• The potential impacts of variations such as payer or plan type, specific comorbidity burdens, socioeconomic status, and region of residence on patient outcomes and costs
• Important factors that will need to be addressed to ensure post-pandemic health equity