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SIG News
Economics of Children’s Health & Wellbeing (E-CHW)
The E-CHW SIG facilitated a series of virtual webinars and workshops in 2022 covering a range of topics.
The first webinar of the series took place on February 10, 2022, with the title ‘Challenges in valuing child health – lessons from EQ-5D-Y valuation exercises’. Associate Professor Oliver Rivero-Arias (University of Oxford, UK) presented this webinar. He shared empirical work illustrating important issues around valuing health states for healthcare decisions in children using evidence from the ongoing programme of work to derive value sets for the EuroQol Youth (EQ-5D-Y) instrument.
The second webinar, ‘Child Health and Human Capital’, took place on April 12, 2022 and was presented by Professor Janet Currie (Princeton University, USA). This webinar provided an overview of recent work that demonstrates the key role of child health in supporting longer-term human capital development and points to public policy interventions that have made a difference.
Professor Lisa Prosser (University of Michigan, USA) presented the third webinar entitled ‘Valuing Health for Children, Adults, and Caregivers: Lessons Learned from COVID-19’ on November 23, 2022. She provided an overview of concepts in measuring the spillover effects of illness in family members for cost-effectiveness analysis.
The recordings of these events are available here, under the Past Webinars tab.
The E-CHW SIG also held an early career researcher event on networking titled ‘Growing your Network’ on March 9, 2022. It featured Professor Kim Dalziel (University of Melbourne, Australia); Dr. Stefan Lipman (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands); and Dr. Tiara Marthias (Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia). This workshop aimed to foster new networks between senior scholars and ECRs working in child health and provide a forum where ECRs could discuss and learn from experienced scholars.
Several E-CHW SIG virtual webinars and workshop events have been scheduled for 2023. Details of these upcoming events will be communicated during the year.
Health Workforce SIG Happy Hour
We will have a no-host Health Workforce SIG happy hour or dinner in Cape Town during the Congress this summer! Stay tuned for details. In Basel, a group of more than 20 of us convened for beer and German-Swiss food. The dining options in Cape Town are fantastic and we look forward to dining together again.
Economics of the Healthcare Workforce Workshop – Call for Papers Open
The first “Economics of the Healthcare Workforce ” Workshop (EHWoW) will be held at the University of Surrey on June 19-20, 2023. Submissions are due February 20 at 3 PM EST/8 PM GMT. More information is available here.
Teaching Health Economics SIG Workshop Recording
If you missed the latest engaging discussion around supervising research students from our Teaching Health Economics (THE) SIG, you can watch the recording on our website here, under the Recordings of Past Events tab.
Upcoming Webinars
Keep Growing Your Network
Date: February 2, 2023 from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Description:
We are pleased to announce that the Economics of Children’s Health and Wellbeing (E-CHW) IHEA Special Interest Group is hosting a second online workshop on networking for Early Career Researchers (ECRs). This workshop aims to foster new networks between senior scholars and ECRs working in child health and provide a forum where ECRs could discuss and learn from experienced scholars how networking helped them navigate the early phases of their careers.
This online workshop particularly invites interested ECRs working on child health to participate in the workshop. In the event, ECR participants will introduce their work in max. 3 minutes, followed by 10-minute networking-related talks by the panellists and multiple speed networking sessions. Among our confirmed panellists are:
Professor Lisa Prosser, University of Michigan – UNITED STATES
Prof. Prosser is a Professor and Director of the Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center. Her research focuses on measuring the value of childhood health interventions using methods of decision sciences and economics. Her work using decision science modelling to project long-term health outcomes for proposed newborn screening programs has been used to inform national newborn screening policy decisions. She holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the Harvard School of Public Health. She is also a convenor of the E-CHW IHEA Special Interest Group.
Dr. Stefan Lipman, Erasmus University Rotterdam – The NETHERLANDS
Dr. Lipman is an assistant professor at the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management. Most of his work focuses on measuring risk and time preference for health, valuation of health and quality of life (with a focus on child health) and prevention of unhealthy behaviour. He is also an ECR convener for the E-CHW IHEA Special Interest Group.
Dr. Tiara Marthias, University of Melbourne – AUSTRALIA
Dr. Marthias is a Senior Technical Advisor at Nossal Institute, University of Melbourne – Australia; Management. Her work focuses on inequality in reproductive health, maternal, neonatal and child health using the health systems perspective. She also has extensive experience working with Indonesian ministries and sub-national governments. She is also the newly elected IHEA ECR director.
The workshop aims to maximize interaction between participants, hence the number of spots is limited. The workshop is free of charge, but interested participants will be required to submit their applications to the organizers.
Equity-Informative Economic Evaluation Networking Event
Session #1
Date: February 21, 2023 from 3:00 AM – 4:00 AM EST
Register here.
Session #2
Date: February 21, 2023 from 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST
Register here.
Description:
An informal session to talk to other health economists with an interest in equity. Participants will be allocated to small groups and asked to share their name, location, example of a project they are working on and a key challenge. This will be followed by general discussion.
There will be two networking sessions on the same day at different times so participants can choose which is more suitable.
Showcasing Early Career Researchers In the Econ-Omics SIG
Date: March 13, 2023 from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST
Description:
This webinar will focus on the research of early career researchers (ECRs) who are members of the IHEA Econ-Omics SIG. Two ECRs will present their work: Ka Keat Lim (King’s College London) and Michael Abbott (University of Aberdeen). The webinar will last for one hour. Each ECR will present for 20 minutes, leaving 10 minutes for feedback and questions from the audience.
Presentation One: Genetic-Guided Pharmacotherapy for Cardiovascular Diseases: A Systematic Review of Economic Evaluation
Presenter: Ka Keat Lim (King’s College London)
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) pose a significant burden to health systems and incur large economic costs. The role of genes in predisposing to CVD and in modifying response to CVD pharmacotherapy makes genetic testing a practical tool to optimize CVD pharmacotherapy. While genetic tests are not currently recommended as usual care, growing clinical evidence suggests that genetic testing may have a role in preventing adverse outcomes. In this systematic review, we aimed to examine the extent and the quality of evidence from economic evaluations of PGx in CVD.
Bio: Ka Keat is a health economist working as a research fellow at King’s College London. He designs and performs economic evaluations, longitudinal data analyses and systematic reviews, with stronger interest in screening and chronic conditions. His current projects examine genetic testing, rehabilitation programmes, and medical devices.
Presentation Two: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Genome-Wide Sequencing Strategies for Developmental Delay Diagnosis in Scotland
Presenter: Michael Abbott (University of Aberdeen)
Aim: To evaluate the cost effectiveness of genetic and genomic testing strategies for the diagnosis of rare developmental disorders in the Scottish NHS.
Methods: Six genetic and genomic testing strategies were evaluated for the diagnosis of developmental disorders using a decision tree model. Strategies included trio genome sequencing (GS), trio exome sequencing (ES) and standard genetic testing at various time points in the care pathway. The cost effectiveness of each strategy was expressed in terms of incremental cost per additional diagnosis. A threshold and probabilistic sensitivity analysis explored the impact of uncertainty on cost-effectiveness results.
Results: 2nd-line ES was a cost-saving option, increasing diagnostic yield by 14% and decreasing cost by £1,115 compared to standard genetic testing. Strategies involving GS increased costs significantly, with only a moderate or zero improvement in diagnostic yield compared to ES. A threshold analysis indicated that the cost of trio GS would need to fall to £2,154 before 1st-line GS becomes cost effective.
Discussion and Conclusions: 2nd-line ES (after chromosomal microarray; replacing gene panel testing) for the diagnosis of developmental disorders is a cost-saving option for the Scottish NHS. Ongoing economic evaluation is required to monitor the evolving cost and diagnostic yield of GS and ES over time.
Bio: Michael is a Research Fellow and PhD student at the Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen. His current research involves conducting an economic evaluation of genome-wide sequencing for rare disease diagnosis. In his PhD, he is exploring patient preferences for genome sequencing using a discrete choice experiment.
Register here.
Did You Know
Did you know that we post information on funding and publication opportunities (and more!) on our website? Take a look here, and click on the Funding, Publication and Other Opportunities button for details on grant, studentship and fellowship opportunities. The most recent posting is for a funded PhD studentship at the London School Hygiene & Tropical Medicine – the deadline is February 19 for applicants. Be sure to continue to check back for more opportunities.
View all upcoming events online here.
