Session (CTI)

Equity considerations are playing an increasingly prominent role in health technology assessment (HTA) and health economics and outcomes research, yet translating equity goals into practical methods, evidence, and decision tools remains challenging. This Forum highlights the recently published health equity themed section in Value in Health Regional Issues (VIHRI), while drawing connections to complementary methodological advances featured in a forthcoming issue of Value in Health (VIH). Together, these efforts illustrate how equity research is evolving from conceptual foundations to pragmatic applications across diverse health systems. Moderated by Stacey Kowal and Manuel Espinoza, the session opens by summarizing what these equity-focused papers collectively show; where the field is moving; and how context, data, and decision systems shape what is possible. The Forum will showcase new research contributions demonstrating how equity methods are being applied in practice. Julia Slejko will present findings from recent research in VIH on eliciting inequality aversion in the United States, before highlighting companion work in VIHRI by Ricci and colleagues that provides practical guidance for adapting benefit trade-off exercises across settings. Together, these studies show how equity-relevant preferences can be measured in one context and localized, tested, and implemented in others. Nancy Devlin will review work examining how the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee has incorporated equity into vaccine-listing decisions, showing that equity considerations are increasingly referenced but inconsistently applied, rarely quantified, and embedded in processes with limited transparency. Their evaluation framework offers a replicable approach for assessing how equity is reflected in decision making across HTA settings. The session will include moderated audience discussion and Q&A, as well as brief updates on developments at VIHRI relevant to the ISPOR community.