Provincial Industry Payer Agreements in an Era of National Purchasing Strategies

Roundtable Discussion

May 5, 2013
St. John's, Newfoundland

This meeting was a follow-up to a 2011 National Roundtable Discussion on Innovative Approaches to Industry-Payer Agreements held in Vancouver, British Columbia in association with the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) Annual Symposium. Information on the 2011 meeting:
http://www.ihe.ca/research/knowledge-transfer-initiatives/--industry-payer-agreements-discussion/innovative-industry-payer-agreements-a-national-discussion-2/

This half-day invitational roundtable was part of the IHE's ongoing Methodology Forum series supported by the Institute of Health Economics, the Alberta government, and industry partners, AstraZeneca, Merck, and Eli Lilly. The event brought together academic experts, industry leaders and senior decision makers. The presentations and discussion were intended to promote a common understanding of the current landscape, allow frank discussion and sharing of perspectives and identification of key issues to support future areas of focus and policy development.

The objectives of this roundtable were to:

1. Discuss the current and potential state of the industry-payer agreements and price negotiation in Canada.
2. Articulate opportunities and barriers and future areas for policy development.

The session was conducted using Chatham House rules. Participants agreed not to report comments attributed to specific individuals.

Chair and moderator: Dr. Chris Henshall, Chair, Health Technology Assessment International Policy Forum

Host: Dr. Anderson Chuck, Director of Economic Evaluation and Analytics, Institute of Health Economics

Background Document - Link 

Program - Link

Research Article - Link

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Opening Remarks

Anderson Chuck, Director of Economic Evaluation and Analytics, Institute of Health Economics

Greetings from the IHE Board

Mark Findlay, AstraZeneca, IHE Board Member

Greetings from the Minister

Honourable Fred Horne, Minister of Health, Alberta

Outline of the Day

Chris Henshall, Chair, HTAi Policy Forum

Discussions on HTA and Value

Chris Henshall, Chair, HTAi Policy Forum

Backgrounder - Summary of Key Findings

Edward Nason, Institute on Governance
Presentation - Link

International Perspectives - PLAs in other jurisdictions

Michael Drummond, University of York, UK
Presentation - Link

Pan-Canadian Collaboration - Update

Diane McArthur, ADM, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care
Presentation - Link

Moderated Discussion with Academics, Payers and Industry

Pricing and Determining Value

Provincial versus Pan-Canadian Approaches

Principles and Pragmatism - Moving Forward

Summary of Discussion

Chris Henshall, Chair, HTAi Policy Forum

Closing Remarks

Anderson Chuck

Speaker Biographies:

Fred Horne
Minister of Health, Government of Alberta

Mr. Horne was elected to his second term as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Edmonton-Rutherford on April 23, 2012. On May 8, 2012, Mr. Horne was appointed as Minister of Health. He had served as Minister of Health and Wellness since October 2011. He also served as a member of the Cabinet Policy Committee on Public Health & Safety and the Treasury Board. He was also a member of the Standing Committee on Health. Previously, Mr. Horne served as Parliamentary Assistant to Health and Wellness. Previous committee involvement includes membership on the Select Special Chief Electoral Officer Search Committee and the Standing Committee on Legislative Offices and chair of the Standing Committee on Health. Prior to serving with the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Mr. Horne worked as a health policy consultant for over 25 years, serving various government bodies and regional health authorities in addition to the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Throughout his career Mr. Horne led initiatives to improve access and quality in Canadian public health care and has worked extensively with the Conference Board of Canada, the Alberta government and the Mayo Clinic. Mr. Horne holds a master of business administration degree from Royal Roads University and a postgraduate certification in dispute resolution from York University.

An avid volunteer, Mr. Horne has served on numerous boards including:

• Alberta Mental Health Board
• Athabasca University
• Mediation and Restorative Justice Centre of Edmonton
• Canadian Student Debating Federation

Additionally, Mr. Horne is a former debater and coached Team Canada at the World Schools Debating Championships. For his continued contributions to the development of debate and speech programs Mr. Horne received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. Mr. Horne and his wife, Jennifer, have lived in Edmonton since 1992.

Michael Drummond
Professor of Health Economics, University of York, UK

Professor Drummond is a Professor of Health Economics and was Director of the Centre from December 1995 to September 2005. His particular field of interest is in the economic evaluation of health care treatments and programmes. He has undertaken evaluations in a wide range of medical fields including care of the elderly, neonatal intensive care, immunisation programmes, services for people with AIDS, eye health care and pharmaceuticals. He is the author of two major textbooks and more than 600 scientific papers, has acted as a consultant to the World Health Organization and was Project Leader of a European Union Project on the Methodology of Economic Appraisal of Health Technology. He has also served on the Boards of Directors of the International Society of Technology Assessment in Health Care and the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. He has been President of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. He is currently Co-Editor-in-Chief of Value in Health. Professor Drummond has been awarded two honorary degrees, from City University, London (2008) and Erasmus University, Rotterdam (2012). In 2010 he was made a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in the USA, being one of only 27 members from the UK.

Chris Henshall
Chair, HTAi Policy Forum, Health Technology Assessment International

Dr. Chris Henshall works as an independent consultant, advising governments, public and private sector organizations on health, research and innovation policy. He was the Founding President of Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi) and is currently Chair of the HTAi Policy Forum and a Board member of the Alberta Research and Innovation Authority, an Associate Professor in the Health
Economics Research Group at Brunel University, and an honorary Fellow in the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York. Chris has worked previously for the Health Promotion Research Trust, the UK Medical Research Council, the Department of Health and NHS in England (where he was involved in establishing the NHS R&D Budget, the NHS HTA Programme and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence), the Department of Trade and Industry (where he was responsible for UK science and innovation policy and funding), and the University of York (where he was responsible for promoting enterprise and innovation and links with the economy, government and businesses at home and overseas).

Diane McArthur
Assistant Deputy Minister, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care

Diane was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister and Executive Officer of Ontario Public Drug Programs in June 2010. Most recently, she was the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ontario Seniors' Secretariat. The Secretariat supports Ontario's Minister Responsible for Seniors by undertaking policy initiatives and public education efforts that improve the quality of life of Ontario seniors. Prior to this, Diane was the Executive Coordinator of Health and Social Policy in Cabinet Office. In this position, she supported the policy decision-making processes of the Cabinet committee that deals with health, social services, health promotion, francophone, and women's and seniors' issues. She was also responsible for broader public sector labour relations. Diane has held progressively more senior positions in several ministries since joining the Government of Ontario as a management intern in 1989. She has extensive experience in health human resource policy and planning for health care provider training, education, supply and distribution initiatives, data and health information planning and analysis, health care provider negotiations, rural health policy, labour relations, and service delivery restructuring.

Mark Findlay
VP Access and External Relations, AstraZeneca Canada, IHE Board Member

In this role, Mark leads the overall management of reimbursement and market access for AstraZeneca, with the goal of providing access of our products to patients. Mark brings to this position a wide range of experience in the Canadian pharmaceutical industry, including leadership roles in Marketing, Sales, and Market Access. Having joined AstraZeneca in 2005, he brings extensive experience to this role based on his previous position as External Relations Director, Ontario, Quebec and Private Payers. Mark graduated from McMaster University with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in BioChemistry.

Eddy Nason
Senior Researcher, Institute of Governance

Mr. Nason has extensive experience in health research policy and evaluation and ROI analysis. He has advised government and not-for-profit health research funders in Canada, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Australia. Mr. Nason has worked with all stakeholders in the healthcare and health research spectrum, including governments, NGOs, health charities, and the private sector. Mr Nason has developed a number of ROI and impact frameworks for healthcare and research. This includes the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) work on research evaluation and return on investment, the HRSDC internal research performance framework, and a ROI analysis of English cardiovascular and mental health research. He has advised CIHR on the use of evidence in decision making, the Institute of Health Services and Policy Research on research evaluation, and the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences on impact assessment. Prior to joining the IOG Mr. Nason has worked with Canadian Policy Research Networks, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the RAND Corporation. He is currently a member of the Canadian Evaluation Society and the Canadian Association of Health Services and Policy Researchers.