New Center for Enhanced Value Assessment (CEVA) Established at Tufts Medical Center
Researchers to explore the quantitative incorporation of new elements into traditional cost-effectiveness analysis
BOSTON (February 1, 2019) – Tufts Medical Center announced today that it will develop a new program this year aimed at better understanding cost-effectiveness and value in the delivery of health care. The new Center for Enhanced Value Assessment (CEVA), funded by a three year, $500,000 grant from the PhRMA Foundation, will be led by principal investigator Peter J. Neumann, ScD, Director of the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVR) at the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts Medical Center, and will be headquartered within CEVR.
Founded in 2006, CEVR’s mission has been to analyze the benefits, risks, and costs of strategies to improve health and health care. As part of its work, the group developed and maintains the Tufts Medical Center Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) Registry, a repository of standardized information on more than 7,000 published cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) that report more than 18,000 cost-effectiveness ratios.
CEVA’s mission will be to explore the development of additional elements of value that reach beyond the cost-per-quality-adjusted life year (QALY) measurement; engage patients, clinicians, and other stakeholders to identify important, novel and non-standard elements; and disseminate findings to a variety of interested parties.
CEVA also will develop infrastructure to enable future work, including developing and disseminating default procedures and assumptions for estimation of novel and non-standard value elements; expand the Tufts Medical Center CEA Registry so that researchers can better track the inclusion of non-standard value elements in CEAs; and establish partnerships and a sustainable model to support future work.
“The need to measure value in health care has never been greater,” said Dr. Neumann. “We are thrilled to receive this award from the PhRMA Foundation and to begin this important work to further advance value metrics.”
Dr. Neumann will direct the overall design of the new center’s enhanced assessments. Co-investigators will include Joshua Cohen, PhD; David Kim, PhD; Tara Lavelle, PhD; Anna Legassie, BA; Debra Lerner, PhD; Paige Lin, PhD; and Dan Ollendorf, PhD.
CEVA is supported by the PhRMA Foundation’s Value Assessment Initiative, which supports multi-disciplinary, collaborative centers of excellence that build evidence, tools and partnerships to inform value assessment strategies and value-driven decision making. The PhRMA Foundation’s initiative is designed to improve patient outcomes while reducing inefficiencies in health care by better assessing the value of medicines and health care services.
“We welcome CEVA to our network of Value Assessment Centers of Excellence," said PhRMA Foundation President Eileen Cannon. “By advancing development of important measures that capture value to patients and society and continue to address cost effectiveness, CEVA is helping patients and families, while moving us toward a truly value-driven health care system."
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About Tufts Medical Center and Floating Hospital for Children
Tufts Medical Center is an exceptional, not-for-profit, 415-bed academic medical center that is home to both a full-service hospital for adults and Floating Hospital for Children. Conveniently located in downtown Boston, the Medical Center is the principal teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine. The Medical Center features a level one trauma center with rooftop helipad, the largest heart transplant center in New England and a renowned research program, ranking among the top 10 percent of independent hospitals to receive federal research funding. A physician network of 1,800 New England Quality Care Alliance doctors represents our strong commitment to health in the community. Tufts Medical Center is a founding member of Wellforce. For more information, visit www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org.
About the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health
The Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVR) is a member of the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts Medical Center, Boston. The mission of CEVR is to analyze the benefits, risks, and costs of strategies to improve health and health care and to communicate the findings to clinicians and policymakers. The Center undertakes scientific research projects, advance methods development for the field, train the next generation of practitioners and users, and work with policymakers worldwide to develop reasoned policy solutions. For more information, please visit https://cevr.tuftsmedicalcenter.org/.
About the PhRMA Foundation Value Assessment Initiative
The PhRMA Foundation’s Value Assessment Initiative is aimed at encouraging more evidence-based research on how the true value of medicines can be accurately defined and quantified. To date, the Foundation has awarded more than $2.8 million in support of a variety of research projects to help advance this goal, including the establishment of four national Centers of Excellence in Value Assessment.