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September 17, 2012
Indirect And Mixed Treatment Comparisons
Location: Leicester, UK
Venue: Vaughan College
Date: September 17th - 19th 2012
Overview
This course is for health economists, statisticians and decision modellers, and systematic reviewers interested in the extension of pair-wise meta-analysis to indirect and mixed treatment comparisons, in the context of either clinical effectiveness or economic evaluation.
The course focuses on Bayesian methods for statistically combining evidence from networks of trials, integrating statistical estimation within a probabilistic modeling framework. The assumptions underlying both pair-wise meta-analysis and mixed treatment comparisons are critically examined. The course also covers methods for detecting and managing heterogeneity and inconsistency.
This is an informal, hands-on course, based on a mixture of lectures and practical work on published datasets using the Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo package WinBUGS. Course tutors are available throughout to answer questions and help with exercises.
It is a collaboration between the Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester and the School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol.
The methods taught on the course were updated in 2011 to be compatible with the NICE 2008 Methods Guide and the Technical Support Documents on Evidence Synthesis http://www.nicedsu.org.uk, and with the Report of the ISPOR Task Force on Indirect Comparisons.
Intended Audience
- Anyone undertaking or managing health technology assessments, including in the context of cost-effectiveness analysis,
- Statisticians, familiar with the principles of meta-analysis, who wish to learn about Bayesian methods for evidence synthesis particularly in the context of cost-effectiveness analysis,
- Anyone responsible for managing systematic reviews.
What You Will Learn
By the end of the course participants will be able to:
- Conduct pair-wise, indirect comparison and mixed treatment comparison (IC/MTC) evidence synthesis using WinBUGS Bayesian software,
- Adjust for covariates,
- Integrate statistical evidence synthesis with probabilistic cost effectiveness analysis,
- Assess the degree of heterogeneity and inconsistency in RCT data,
- Understand the assumptions and potential pitfalls in pair-wise and IC/MTC meta-analysis,
- Participants will also have an introductory understanding of Bayesian methods, hierarchical modeling, and be able to use WinBUGS software.
Course Faculty
Keith Abrams, Tony Ades, Debbi Caldwell, Nicola Cooper, Sofia Dias, Alex Sutton, Nicky Welton
Further Details And Registration Forms from:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cobm/research/mpes/mtc12.html
Economic Evaluation In Clinical Trials
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Dates: 17th - 19th September 2012
Who is the course aimed at?
The course is designed for individuals undertaking health economic evaluations in academia, consultancies and industry, as well as those involved in the design and analysis of clinical trials (statisticians and health service researchers).
What are the learning objectives?
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Design an economic evaluation in a clinical trial appropriate to a setting or intervention(s), including multinational RCTs
- Analyse cost and effect data using univariate and multivariate approaches
- Estimate cost effectiveness (and net benefit) and the uncertainty surrounding the estimate
- Consider issues of transferability
What will the course cover?
The course will start with designing a multinational trial and consider the issues of evaluating data from such a trial (what data to collect, how to value cost and effect, how to analyse the data, and estimate cost effectiveness) as building blocks over the three days.
Specific exercises will be conducted to illustrate the effect of distributional assumptions, univariate and multivariable approaches for the analysis of costs and QALYs, sample size and power calculations and their interpretation, reporting sampling uncertainty for the comparison of cost and effects.
This course will be based around the recently published book ‘Economic Evaluation in Clinical Trials’ by Henry Glick, Jalpa Doshi and colleagues, part of the Handbooks in Health Economic Evaluation series.
Software and prerequisites
This is course focuses specifically on the analysis of cost and effect data in an economic evaluation alongside a clinical trial. Participants are expected to be familiar with t-tests and ordinary least squares regression. Familiarity with sample size calculation for clinical outcomes will be helpful but not required.
The course will be ‘hands-on’, and participants are required to bring a laptop computer (and mouse). The course will use STATA and enrolled participants who do not have STATA will be provided with a temporary STATA licence. Familiarity with STATA is not necessary, but will be beneficial.
The statistical modules will involve computer work on exercises which will be built up over the three days. In addition, participants will be given the opportunity to bring along their own evaluations for further development during the course.
Faculty
- Dr Henry Glick, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
- Dr Glick received an M.A. and Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Pennsylvania. He has more then 20 years of experience in conducting economic assessments of medical therapies, with a specialist interest in economic assessments conducted as part of clinical trials. In addition to his main affiliation, he also associated with the Wharton School, the Centre for Health Incentives, the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, at University of Pennsylvania.
- Dr Jalpa Doshi, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Health Services Research Unit, University of Pennsylvania.
- Dr Doshi is clinically trained as a pharmacist, and received her M.S. and Ph.D. in pharmaceutical health services research at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Her expertise is in the areas of pharmaceutical health services research, health economics, and health policy. She has extensive experience conducting evaluations using Medicare, Medicaid, VA, and commercial insurance datasets. In addition to the Health Services Research Unit of the University of Pennsylvania she has affiliations with the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, the Economic Evaluations Unit, and the Centre for Evidence-Based-Practice.
- Prof. Andrew Briggs, Lindsay Chair in Health Policy and Economic Evaluation, Health Economic Appraisal Team, University of Glasgow.
- Prof. Briggs he has an interest in all aspects of economic evaluation applied to health care, in particular the use of statistical methods for assessing cost and cost-effectiveness, and the use of risk/prognostic modelling for making treatment decisions and guiding policy.
This course is collaboration between Public Health and Health Policy, University of Glasgow and the Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. The course will take place on the University of Glasgow campus, situated in the lively West End of the city with many shops, bars and restaurants. Accommodation is not included as part of the course in order that participants may make arrangements to suit themselves. Limited accommodation will be available at a reduced rate at the Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor, and there are many other hotels and B&Bs within walking distance.
Fees
Public/academic £950
Commercial sector £1,480
Fees are fully inclusive of tuition, lunch, course dinner, and course materials but do not include accommodation. VAT is not payable.
Limited offer: for anyone attending both the Economic Evaluation in Clinical Trials course and the Advanced Modelling Methods course which runs 12th - 14th September, complementary accommodation will be provided at the Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor for the intervening weekend.
More information can be found on the HEHTA webpage see
http://www.glasgow.ac.uk/hehta
Further details and booking information are available from the HEHTA administrator: hehta@glasgow.ac.uk