Integrating HEOR Methods to Advance Value-Based Healthcare

/ Published in News

A new ISPOR Special Task Force report highlights how health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) can strengthen the implementation of value-based healthcare (VBHC), and how closer alignment between the two fields can accelerate more patient-centered, high-value health systems worldwide.

VBHC focuses on improving outcomes that matter to patients relative to the cost of care, but its implementation has often lacked consistent methodological rigor. Meanwhile, HEOR offers robust tools for evaluating outcomes, costs, and value, yet has traditionally been applied more narrowly, often in health technology assessment.

The report highlights the important role of organizations such as ICHOM in advancing VBHC through globally recognized approaches to measuring outcomes that matter to patients. It also notes that HEOR methods can further support the development and application of standardized outcome frameworks across full care pathways.

While many VBHC initiatives already use elements of HEO, primarily cost analysis, comprehensive economic evaluations remain limited. Greater integration of HEOR methods could improve transparency, consistency, and decision-making across care pathways.

Key opportunities for alignment include:

  • Stronger measurement of outcomes and costs across the full cycle of care
  • Improved incentive design and payment models to support value-based delivery
  • Enhanced use of real-world data and patient-centered outcomes
  • Identification and reduction of “defects in value”, such as inefficiencies, waste, and inequities

The Task Force also introduces the IMPACT framework, a practical guide to applying HEOR methods in VBHC design and implementation, covering areas such as incentives, modeling, patient-centered outcomes, costing, and transparency (see Figure on page 8).

Ultimately, the report reinforces that combining HEOR’s analytical rigor with VBHC’s focus on outcomes that matter to patients—supported by standardized approaches such as those developed by ICHOM, can drive more transparent, evidence-based, and sustainable healthcare transformation.

ICHOM welcomes the latest ISPOR Special Task Force report exploring how health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) can strengthen the implementation of value-based healthcare (VBHC). The report reinforces the importance of measuring outcomes that matter most to patients and highlights ICHOM’s role in advancing globally recognized approaches to outcomes measurement. By aligning HEOR’s analytical rigor with standardized Sets of Patient-Centered Outcome Measures, healthcare systems can drive more transparent, patient-centered, and sustainable transformation. This growing connection between HEOR and VBHC supports ICHOM’s mission to improve health outcomes worldwide.

Download the report here.