The PhRMA Foundation will again offer Value Assessment Challenge Awards in 2019, providing $85,000 to support scientific papers that advance solutions to the following question: What are innovative, patient-centered approaches to contribute to health care value assessment that move beyond the inherent limitations of analyses based on the quality-adjusted life year metric?
For years, researchers have used quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) – a standardized measurement of the impact of health interventions — as a way of addressing this variability in determining value. But in the 30 years since the QALY was first introduced, the practice of medicine has become increasingly personalized and more curative therapies for previously untreatable conditions have been developed or are on the horizon. In addition, there have been significant advances in scientific innovation and the ability to capture and utilize patient data. All of these factors have created limitations in the effectiveness of QALYs in determining value in health care.
This year, the Foundation is seeking scientific papers that offer new approaches to value measurement that move beyond the limitations of traditional QALY-based analysis. Special consideration will be given to papers that focus on collaboration across stakeholder groups and fields of discipline, approaching the challenge question from the perspective of non-health care sector sources, patients, individuals or organizations.
The winner will receive $50,000, the runner-up will receive $25,000, and third and fourth place awardees will receive $5,000. The PhRMA Foundation will host a public forum in 2019 to highlight activities funded by this program, where awardees will present their winning papers.
Candidates for 2019 Challenge Awards should submit letters of intent to the Foundation no later than March 15, 2019, to initiate the application process. Qualified applicants will be contacted no later than April 1, 2019, with a request to submit the full paper describing their response to the challenge question.
Visit our Challenge Awards page to apply. For more information, please call 202-572-7756.
