From Evidence to Influence: How HEOR Is Redefining Value, Decisions, and Impact

Marie Andrawes, PhD, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Newton, MA, USA; Chris Blanchette, MBA, PhD, Novo Nordisk, Doylestown, PA, USA; Tommy Bramley, PhD, Cencora, Polk City, IA, USA; David Bruhn, MBA, PharmD, Otsuka, San Diego, CA, USA; Arturo Cabra, MSc, GE HealthCare, Miami, FL, USA; Bruce Feinberg, DO, Cardinal Health, Dublin, OH, USA; Grace E. Fox, PhD, OPEN Health, New York, NY, USA; Abhijit Gadkari, Novartis, Basking Ridge, NJ, USA; Adrian Keilhorn, MBA, Alexion AstraZeneca Rare Disease, Boston, MA, USA; Sulabha Ramachandran, PhD, GSK, West Chester, PA, USA; Jaime Rubin Cahill, MA, MPH, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Boston, MA, USA; Claire Telford, MSc, PhD, Pfizer, Gaithersburg, MD, USA; Haijun Tian, PhD, Eli Lilly and Company, Chatham, NJ, USA; Min Yang, PhD, MD, Analysis Group, Boston, MA, USA

In conference rooms across healthcare, a familiar scene unfolds: a robust, carefully constructed analysis is presented to decision makers—only to land without impact. The data are sound. The methods are robust. Yet the work fails to influence decisions.

This disconnect between evidence and action was a defining theme across 3 ISPOR Partnership Group forums at ISPOR 2026 in Philadelphia featuring leading health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) experts from the biopharmaceutical industry, medical device and diagnostics industry, and consultancies. While each session addressed a different dimension—soft skills, policy, and executive engagement—they converged on a single conclusion: HEOR is being fundamentally redefined.

No longer a primarily technical or reactive function, HEOR is evolving into a strategic discipline that must shape policy, influence leadership, and drive business outcomes. Achieving that shift requires more than analytical excellence. A new combination of capabilities—including communication, adaptability, business alignment, and foresight—determines whether evidence truly informs decisions.

Study design, statistical rigor, and analytical precision have served as the foundation of credibility. But these attributes alone no longer translate into impact.

The Limits of Technical Excellence

For decades, HEOR has been defined by its methodological strength. Study design, statistical rigor, and analytical precision have served as the foundation of credibility. But these attributes alone no longer translate into impact.

One panelist recalled, early in their career, presenting a technically sophisticated analysis to a group of executives, only to be met with silence. A commercial leader eventually asked a simple question: “Why are we doing this study?” The answer, though scientifically valid, was not meaningful to the audience in the room.

This moment captures the importance of knowing one’s audience when communicating HEOR findings. Decision makers appreciate the importance of methodological rigor, but they need to understand what the evidence means, why it matters to patients, and what action it enables. As a result, communication has become central to HEOR influence.

Evidence must be translated into clear, structured narratives that connect analysis to outcomes and implications. This requires discipline and intent, focusing not on what was done but on what should be done next.

Persuasion, too, plays a critical role. By establishing credibility, logic, and emotional connection, HEOR professionals can help stakeholders not only understand the data at a high level but also recognize its relevance. Without that connection, even the strongest evidence risks being ignored.

Navigating a More Complex System

Influence also depends on context. HEOR operates within a complex ecosystem of stakeholders that includes medical affairs, commercial, clinical, research and development, regulatory, and payers, each interpreting evidence through different lenses.

Of the many factors currently reshaping how value is defined and assessed, global policy is one of the most visible. In the United States, policies such as the Inflation Reduction Act and renewed attention to international pricing benchmarks are introducing more direct links between value and cost and deepening the discussion about investment in innovation. At the same time, global frameworks such as the European Union Health Technology Assessment Regulation are driving greater alignment across markets.

These changes are raising the bar for evidence generation. Comparative effectiveness is no longer optional. Outcomes must reflect real-world impact, including quality of life and economic burden. Evidence must also be globally consistent, locally relevant, and capable of informing decisions across different healthcare systems.

Critically, this environment rewards anticipation rather than reaction. HEOR can no longer wait for policy shifts to occur. It must inform the proactive design of evidence strategies that align with evolving expectations from the outset. In doing so, HEOR will be helping to shape policy by defining how tradeoffs among costs, outcomes, and access are measured and understood.

Speaking the Language of Decision Makers

Even as policy-driven external pressures are mounting, internal alignment remains equally important. One of HEOR’s most persistent challenges is translating analytical insight into terms that resonate with executive leadership.

At the C-suite level, decisions are framed in terms of portfolio performance, financial outcomes, and risk. Executives are not evaluating individual datasets; they are determining how resources are allocated across an entire organization. For HEOR to influence these decisions, it must connect evidence directly to business outcomes.

For HEOR professionals, this requires a shift in focus—from methods to meaning. Rather than leading with technical detail, effective communication centers on 3 questions: Why was this evidence generated? What does it show? And what should be done as a result?

The most impactful HEOR teams embed this framing early, engaging stakeholders throughout the research process so that findings are already understood and trusted before formal presentation.

When aligned in this way, HEOR can directly influence high-stakes outcomes. Industry executives have used real-world evidence to strengthen pricing positions, inform payer negotiations, and shape reimbursement decisions in addition to advancing health outcomes. Equally important, HEOR can help those executives and organizations avoid missteps by identifying risks, understanding assumptions, and anticipating barriers before they materialize.

In both cases, its value lies in enabling better decisions.

Too often, HEOR is engaged too late in the product life cycle. To maximize impact, HEOR professionals must be embedded earlier—during product development, trial design, and evidence planning.

Moving Upstream

Across all discussions, one imperative stood out: HEOR must move upstream.

Too often, HEOR is engaged too late in the product life cycle—after clinical strategies are set or challenges emerge. In these situations, its role is limited to explaining or defending decisions that have already been made.

To maximize impact, HEOR professionals must be embedded earlier: during product development, trial design, and evidence planning. At this stage, they can shape endpoints, comparators, and study questions to ensure relevance for patients, payers, and policy makers.

Early engagement extends beyond internal teams. Regulatory and HTA consultation processes (such as the European Commission’s Joint Scientific Consultations) provide opportunities to align evidence expectations before they become constraints. HEOR teams within organizations that take advantage of these opportunities can help shape the decision framework itself, rather than reacting to it.

This shift, from reactive support to proactive influence, is central to HEOR’s evolution.

Rethinking the Economics of Evidence

The foundational assumption that HEOR’s primary role is to justify the price of therapies is being challenged by growing recognition that HEOR can also help address the cost of generating evidence.

Modern clinical development is extraordinarily expensive, driven in large part by the traditional 3-phase randomized controlled trial model. Advances in methodology, such as external control arms and sophisticated statistical adjustments, offer credible, less costly alternatives in certain contexts. For rare diseases, in particular, these approaches could dramatically reduce both development cost and time to market.

By helping redefine acceptable evidence standards, HEOR’s influence has the potential to extend beyond pricing debates to impact the broader economics of innovation.

Redefining Expertise

Collectively, these ongoing shifts point to a new definition of expertise within HEOR.

Technical skills remain essential but are no longer sufficient alone. Professionals must also demonstrate strategic thinking, policy awareness, and the ability to communicate across diverse audiences. They must understand how evidence informs decisions, not just scientifically but operationally and financially. They must adapt messages to different stakeholders while maintaining analytical integrity.

They must also operate effectively under uncertainty.

As artificial intelligence begins to reshape analytical workflows, routine tasks may become more automated. But judgment, contextual understanding, and strategic insight will become even more valuable.

In this environment, adaptability is emerging as a defining skill. The most effective HEOR professionals will be those who can integrate across disciplines, navigate ambiguity, and apply evidence to drive action.

From Evidence to Action

The transformation of HEOR is already underway. Policy changes, system pressures, and organizational priorities are redefining how value is measured and how decisions are made.

Evidence is no longer an endpoint. It is a means of influence across policy, strategy, and patient outcomes. For HEOR, this shift presents both a challenge and an opportunity.

The challenge is to evolve by building new capabilities, engaging earlier, and aligning more closely with decision-making processes. The opportunity is to become indispensable—not by producing more data, but by delivering evidence that is relevant, actionable, and aligned with stakeholder needs.

In a landscape where data are abundant, but attention is limited, the ability to connect evidence to decisions will define the future of HEOR and its leaders.

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