Great minds think alike

One of the best outcomes of our ever-shrinking world is the opportunity to meet colleagues from other countries, to learn their best practices, share ‘war stories’ of failed attempts, and garner new ideas for solutions in our respective home countries. I often think back to the four years I spent living in France and England, and how it changed (and continues to do so, now 12 years later) the way I live my life, both personally and professionally.

The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research held its annual meeting in Paris, France last week and several of my colleagues from Rx Communications Ltd were lucky enough to attend. Our venerable (and venerated) CEO Ruth Whittington offers us her take home lessons from the meeting, in particular with regarding to health technology assessment (HTA) in several of Europe’s leading HTA agencies. As she notes, “If you’ve seen one HTA submission, you have seen just one HTA submission.” But the different processes provide important concepts for optimising HTA in other countries, especially for those who are just beginning this venture.