According to the professional society for health economics and outcomes research, the ISPOR Patient Council fulfils its commitment to engage patient representatives in healthcare research and decision making.
“ISPOR has had a long-standing commitment to patient engagement and including the ‘patient voice’ in healthcare decision making,” said Nancy S. Berg, CEO and Executive Director, ISPOR.
Establishment of the Patient Council formally includes patient representatives in ISPOR’s governance, said Berg, as the council will serve in an advisory role to the board of directors.
“The objective of the council is to foster communication between patient engagement organizations and the extended health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) community,” she told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
The Patient Council will be composed of chairs from the Society’s Patient Representatives Roundtables and will serve as a platform for information sharing among its global patient engagement groups.
“Patients have provided a critical voice in biopharmaceutical and medical research for decades,” said Berg. “Challenges in HEOR include measuring patient-reported outcomes and using real-world evidence.”
Moving forward, Berg said the organization will turn to the new Patient Council in addition to other ISPOR science and research groups, to help advance these, and other methods and tools.
“A significant part of their role is synthesizing the needs of the existing ISPOR regional patient groups and recommending how to leverage knowledge, share best practices, and develop practical tools for use in decision-making,” she explained.
The ISPOR Patient Council will meet twice each year.
“We are very excited to establish the new Patient Council and a take another step to help bring the ‘patient voice’ into the work ISPOR and our members do to improve healthcare decision making and health for patients globally,” said Berg.