The assessment of treatment effectiveness should hold a central role in healthcare, in order to have the knowledge to use healthcare resources in the best possible manner. Efficiency can be really pursued only where there is awareness of both the resources used, i.e. costs, in the production of health services and of the effectiveness, i.e. impact on health, achieved with them. Measuring the use of resources is relatively easy in this equation, but the measurement of effectiveness has been and is considered problematic, even difficult. After the social welfare and healthcare reform in Finland, the requirements for measuring effectiveness will grow, and these requirements concern all actors. Therefore, it is important that discussion is held on measuring effectiveness, its challenges and solution models, and that when discussing the issue, concrete matters can be discussed alongside general objectives.
The aim of the project of the Pharma Industry Finland and Medaffcon is to open a discussion on concrete measures and indicators with which effectiveness and the development of efficiency can be measured and monitored when aiming at even better treatment results and more efficient resource allocation in healthcare. Same indicators should support the decision-making of those who order, produce and cover the costs of healthcare as well as citizens’ decision-making.
It is obvious that such review will not produce a solution model that is final, optimal for all interest groups or even problem-free. In addition, some of the indicators to be proposed will be such that they can’t even be produced in the current system. It is, however, also important to indicate informational and data blind spots, and perhaps solutions to those. Medaffcon has an enthusiastic attitude towards the review; in the project, we can utilize our wide-ranging knowledge base and our cooperation networks in a manner that benefits the entire society, ultimately for the good of Finnish healthcare and its patients.
Coming up soon, Copenhagen will be the center of health economics as more than five thousand pharmaceutical and healthcare professionals gather for the ISPOR conference. ISPOR has been well known, especially among health economists. However, this years’ top trends real-world data (RWD) and real-world evidence (RWE) attract even wider audience.
Medaffcon has added Swedish healthcare registries to its capabilities as it continues to pursue growth and facilitate data utilisation by providing pharmaceutical companies access to rich and relevant healthcare data.
Timo Karvinen joined Medaffcon’s Market Access team as an expert in the beginning of May. In addition to his extensive expertise, he also brings a whole new service concept to Medaffcon.