Economic Analysis of Nutrition Interventions: Methods, Research, and Policy

Proceedings are available via links within the Agenda below.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) hosted a workshop on Economic Analysis of Nutrition Interventions on February 23-24, 2010, in Bethesda, Maryland.

This 1.5-day event brought together U.S. and international academicians, researchers, policy makers, and regulators to address the following key and questions with respect to nutrition interventions:

  • State of the science. What health economic methods are currently used to judge the burden of illness, interventions, or health care policies? What new research methodologies are available or needed to address critical knowledge or methodological gaps or barriers?
  • Research applications. What evidence-based health economic research activities in nutrition are ongoing or planned at the NIH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and Economic Research Service in the Department of Agriculture?
  • Regulatory, policy, and clinical practice perspectives. Once these research goals have been met, how can the results help regulators and policy makers at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) make nutrition policy decisions? What health economic and policy activities are taking place in other countries? How does economics affect the development of clinical guidelines?

The workshop's goal was to enhance communication among health economic methodologists, researchers, reimbursement policy makers, and regulators about needs, capabilities, and future directions. The workshop's objectives were to inform policy decision making by:

  • Improving the methodologies used for health economic research in nutrition.
  • Identifying areas of congruence between health economic research aims and health policy and regulatory needs.
  • Establishing a health economic research agenda to foster the use of health economics in clinical and translational health science.

Agenda

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
8:00Welcome
Paul M. Coates, Office of Dietary Supplements, NIH
Josephine P. Briggs, National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine, NIH

Session One: Methods in Economic Analysis of Nutrition Interventions
Session One Summary
8:15"Making America Healthier and its Medical Care Less Costly: Initial Reflections"
Theodore Marmor, Yale Law School
8:45"American exceptionalism and cost-effectiveness analysis in the U.S.: a historic perspective"
Peter J. Neumann, Tufts Medical Center
9:15"Health Economics Methodological Overview"
David D. Meltzer, University of Chicago
10:00"IOM Recommendations for Valuing Health in Regulatory Cost Effectiveness Analysis"
Wilhelmine Miller, The George Washington University
10:30"Health Related Quality of Life and Health Status"
Robert M. Kaplan, University of California, Los Angeles
11:00"Estimating Costs"
Martin L. Brown, National Cancer Institute, NIH
11:30"Uncertainty in Economic Evaluation"
Milton C. Weinstein, Harvard University
12:00Lunch

Session Two: Research in Economic Analysis of Nutrition Interventions
Session Two Summary
1:00"Economics Research at NIH"
James A. Schuttinga, Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives, NIH
1:15"Nutritional Interventions for Chronic Disease Prevention"
John B. Wong, Tufts Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine; Office of Dietary Supplements, NIH
1:30"Review of Published Studies of the Cost-Effectiveness of Dietary Supplements and a Brief Overview of Their Use in US Health Policy Making"
Patricia M. Herman, University of Arizona
2:00"Integrating Economics into the Global Health Research Agenda: Examples from the Fogarty International Center"
Nalini P. Anand, Fogarty International Center, NIH
2:15"Health Economics in the Extramural Programs of the NIA"
John G. Haaga, National Institute on Aging, NIH
2:30"NICHD Economics Research to Support Human Development"
V. Jeffery Evans, National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. NIH
3:15"Health Economics Research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention"
Scott Grosse, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
3:35"Clinical Economic Research at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality"
William Lawrence, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
3:55"Diet and Health Research at the USDA's Economic Research Service"
Laurian Unnevehr, USDA Economic Research Service

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Session Three: Policy in Economic Analysis of Nutrition Interventions
Session Three Summary
8:00"Supporting Congressional decisions on nutrition policy"
Susan Offutt, Government Accountability Office
8:30"GRADE's approach to incorporation of resource use in clinical guidelines"
Gordon Guyatt, McMaster University
9:00"Health Economics in Planning, Evaluation and Policy Research at HHS"
Laina Bush, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health & Human Services
9:30"The NICE Approach to the Assessment of the Clinical and Cost-Effectiveness of Health Care Interventions"
Michael F. Drummond, University of York
10:15"Using Economic Analysis in FDA Nutrition Regulations"
David J. Zorn, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
10:45"Approaches to Economic Evaluation at German Agencies for Health Technology Assessment"
Uwe Siebert, UMIT - University for Health Sciences and Harvard School of Public Health
11:15"The Role of Economic Analysis in Funding Decisions for Health Care Interventions in Canada"
Doug Coyle, University of Ottawa
11:45"How Medicare Develops National Coverage Policy"
Louis B. Jacques, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
12:15Public Comments
1:00Adjourn

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