A Dose of Economics

In April this year, NICE raised its cost-effectiveness threshold for the first time in 20 years, moving from £20,000-£30,000 per QALY to £25,000–£35,000 per QALY. On paper, it’s not a big difference. But the fact that there was a change, and how it came about, is significant.   Grace Hampson is joined by Adrian Towse, who ran OHE as its Director for many years, and Chris Sampson, Senior Principal Economist at OHE, to dig into one of the most contested debates in health economics: the cost-effectiveness threshold, what it represents, and how it should be determined.   A Dose of Economics is Grace and the Office of Health Economics (OHE) team thinking out loud — debating the questions that matter most in healthcare policy, resource allocation, and health system decision-making, with the experts doing the work at the highest level. New episodes drop every Tuesday. If there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, feel free to ⁠⁠⁠share your ideas⁠⁠⁠.

How do we actually measure health? And in health economics, what is the difference between measuring health and assigning a value to it?  Grace Hampson is joined by David Mott, Associate Director at OHE, as well as Hannah Hussain, an Economist at OHE, both part of OHE’s Measuring and Valuing Outcomes team. They’ll unpack how health economists measure and value health, and why getting this right matters for healthcare decision-making.  A Dose of Economics is Grace and the Office of Health Economics (OHE) team thinking out loud — debating the questions that matter most in healthcare policy, resource allocation, and health system decision-making, with the experts doing the work at the highest level. New episodes drop every Tuesday. If there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, feel free to ⁠⁠share your ideas⁠⁠.

AI is already reshaping how healthcare policy works. The question is not whether AI will also transform health economics – but how quickly, and whether we are ready for the opportunities and challenges it could bring. There is incredible potential here, but also real questions about rigour, accountability, and what AI means for people working in this space.   Grace Hampson is joined by Tim Reason, co-founder and managing director of Estima Scientific, and Dalia Dawoud, Research Principal in HTA Policy and Strategy at Cytel to dive into all things AI and health economics.  A Dose of Economics is Grace and the Office of Health Economics (OHE) team thinking out loud — debating the questions that matter most in healthcare policy, resource allocation, and health system decision-making, with the experts doing the work at the highest level. New episodes drop every Tuesday. If there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, feel free to ⁠⁠share your ideas⁠⁠.

When healthcare systems assess the value of a new medicine, should they only count the impact on the patient's health and the healthcare budget?   The case for a broader, societal perspective in health technology assessment has been building for years, but so have the arguments against it.   Grace Hampson is joined by Chris Skedgel, a Director at OHE, to dig into one of health economics' most contested methodological debates: what are health systems trying to achieve through health technology assessments (HTA)? And whose perspective should they adopt in doing so?  A Dose of Economics is Grace and the Office of Health Economics (OHE) team thinking out loud — debating the questions that matter most in healthcare policy, resource allocation, and health system decision-making, with the experts doing the work at the highest level. New episodes drop every Tuesday. For more on this topic, read OHE’s insight Valuing patient and carer time in HTA: equity and opportunity costIf there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, feel free to ⁠share your ideas⁠.

The Joint Clinical Assessment (JCA) is a milestone in European health policy, promising a single shared evaluation of the efficacy and safety of new medicines across EU member states. Theoretically, this should mean consistency for innovators and faster access to medicines for patients. But one year on, how is JCA working in practice, and what needs to happen next?    Grace Hampson is joined by Patrick Hopkinson, founder of PHTA Consulting and global market access expert, and Matthias Hofer, Senior Principal Economist at OHE, to take stock of the lessons learned from the first year of JCA, and discuss what’s yet to come.     A Dose of Economics is Grace and the Office of Health Economics (OHE) team thinking out loud — debating the questions that matter most in healthcare policy, resource allocation, and health system decision-making, with the experts doing the work at the highest level. New episodes drop every Tuesday.    If there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, feel free to share your ideas.

Around 5 million deaths per year are linked to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and this number is growing, with AMR-related deaths predicted to surpass deaths from cancer by 2050. And yet, the global pipeline of new antibiotics is critically underdeveloped. So how do we address the problem? Grace Hampson is joined by Lotte Steuten, Deputy Chief Executive of the Office of Health Economics and David McKinney, Co-founder of ARMoR, to dig into the market failures surrounding the AMR crisis and debate what it would take to turn the tide. A Dose of Economics is Grace and the Office of Health Economics (OHE) team thinking out loud — debating the questions that matter most in healthcare policy, resource allocation, and health system decision-making, with the experts doing the work at the highest level. New episodes drop every Tuesday.  If there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, feel free to share your ideas.Find the Lifeline album on Spotify

US pharmaceutical prices are the highest in the world -- President Trump's Most Favoured Nation (MFN) policy is trying to change that. But what does MFN pricing mean in practice? And what are the global ripple effects on drug innovation and R&D?  Grace Hampson is joined by Neil Grubert and Amanda Cole to talk about the biggest developments in U.S drug pricing policy – and what it means for the rest of the world.   A Dose of Economics is Grace and the Office of Health Economics (OHE) team thinking out loud — debating the questions that matter most in healthcare policy, resource allocation, and health system decision-making, with the experts doing the work at the highest level. New episodes drop every Tuesday.  If there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, feel free to share your ideas.

When demand for healthcare is growing but budgets are finite, the "how" and "why" of decision-making matters. In this first episode, host Grace Hampson, a Director at the Office of Health Economics (OHE), introduces the podcast, and sets out what you can expect this season. One question will run through every conversation: what can health economics bring to the most pressing problems in healthcare today? From cost-effectiveness thresholds and health technology assessment (HTA), to AI in health economics, rare diseases, drug pricing policy, antibiotics, and prevention, A Dose of Economics gets to the heart of the matter with expert guests closest to the work.