FD3 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF PERSON-LEVEL COST-EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS

Sunday, October 24, 2010: 9:00 AM
Conference Room D (Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel)
Course Type: Full Day
Course Level: Beginner

Format Requirements: The Full Day class will have two parts: Part I (morning): Fundamentals of Estimation and Uncertainty using the Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) and Part II (afternoon): Fundamentals of Estimation and Uncertainty using the Incremental Net Benefit (INB). Each part will be structured with theory bursts followed by group work exercises. Participants should have some familiarity with how to do regression since many of the examples will use Excel and/or regression to illustrate a concept or how to do a technique. The class will use Excel and/or Stata. In order to get the most from the session and undertake the exercises, participants should bring laptops with these programmes pre-loaded with them to the session. Other regression programs can be used, but they will not be emphasized in this class.

Background: This class introduces the principles and practices of estimation and uncertainty as they apply to person-level cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA). The USA has recently spent over $1 billion on comparative effectiveness research, often involving person-level data. The purpose of this class is to build the capacity of SMDM attendees to do and explain CEA in an intuitive, non-technical manner. The fundamental activities of CEA—estimation and uncertainty—will be taught through theory bursts followed by group work exercises. The first part of the day long class will focus on estimation and uncertainty skills involving the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). The second part of the day long class will focus on estimation and uncertainty skills involving the incremental net benefit (INB). At the end of the class, participants will have a deeper understanding of estimation and uncertainty concepts and the ability to do and explain them in an intuitive, non-technical manner.

Description and Objectives: This introductory course provides insight about person-level cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA).  A deeper understanding of person-level CEA is becoming even more important as clinical trials continue to add economic components and countries like the USA spend over $1 billion on comparative effectiveness research (CER).  In addition, a fundamental understanding of Estimation and Uncertainty concepts learned in a person-level setting can enrich one’s understanding in a decision modeling context.  The objectives of this course are for participants to learn the principles and practice of (1) Estimating and interpreting the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) and incremental net benefit (INB) and (2) Characterizing uncertainty of ICER and INB estimates using scatterplots, 95% confidence intervals and ellipses, incremental net benefit vs. willingness to pay plots and cost-effectiveness acceptability and frontier curves. Participants will be challenged to apply their conceptual understanding developed in the theory bursts using Excel and Stata programs given to them in this class.  A final objective for this short course is that participants be able to do and explain their CEA techniques and results in an intuitive, non-technical manner.

Course Director:
Jeffrey Hoch, PhD
Course Faculty:
Elisabeth A.L. Fenwick, PhD and Katia Noyes, PhD