Scientific Programme

This event is pending accreditation from the Singapore Medical Council for 8 CME points.

Programme Highlights

Plenary Lectures

i)	Behavioural Sciences and Public Health Prof David Chan Director, Behavioural Sciences Institute and Deputy Provost Singapore Managmment University

ii)	Health Technology Assessment: Methods and Processes Real case studies of NICE decisions in chronic disease management to highlight the methods and processes of decision-making at UK's NICE Dr Amanda Adler University of Oxford Chair, Technology Appraisal Committee, NICE, UK

iii)	Occupational Rehabilitation and Return to Work: The Asian Context Prof Chetwyn Chan Chair Professor and Head Department of Rehabilitation Science, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

iv)	Making Sense of Evidence Overview of evidence decision making for public health in the UK setting Professor Mike Kelly Director, Centre for Public Health Excellence, NICE , UK

Topics for Symposiums and Workshops at the Conference will include:

Symposiums

Cancer & Infectious Diseases Screening
Training Methods
Injured Workers: Assessment, Rehabilitation and Return to Work
Public Health Influences on Behaviour
Health Services Planning
Controversies in Public Health
Applications in Health Services Research
Changing Practice: The Challenge of Making an Impact
(more details)
Multinational experience of the challenges of
1. generating/compiling the evidence
2. institutionalising evidence-informed decision making and
3. implementing the decisions and making an impact, each based on policy makers’ experience from their own country setting
Evidence-informed Reimbursement: Linking Health Technology Assessment to Pricing:Process and Methodological Challenges
(more details)

Public and private payers in rich and emerging economies are becoming increasingly interested in using evidence to inform health-care resource allocation decisions. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the United Kingdom has been doing so on behalf of the National Health Service (NHS) for more than 10 years. To some, NICE-type entities are barriers to access and innovation. Increasingly, however, even NICE’s critics appreciate that evidence-informed decision making, carried out in a fair, inclusive, and transparent way, is better than arbitrary government imposed price cuts. In a budgetarily constrained environment, there may be no third option. The recent pricing reforms in the United Kingdom reflect a change in the nature of the discussion between industry and payers. Linking HTA to pricing through Patient Access Schemes and Risk Sharing arrangements is one of the components of the recent reforms to accelerate access to the NHS market for potentially high value technologies. Others include sharing of industry pipelines with NICE and the UK’s University-based Horizon Scanning Centre so that HTA takes place in a timely fashion; industry participation at NICE committees (without voting rights) to enhance engagement and reduce unnecessary delays; the Innovation Pass and Flexible Pricing based on evidence of additional (or reduced) incremental value and subject to an HTA process. We will discuss these latest developments using examples from the UK to draw lessons for policy makers operating in other countries but faced with the similar challenge of balancing affordability with access and quality. Participants will gain an understanding of the latest policy developments in pricing and HTA and have the chance to discuss how these policy initiatives may be of relevance to their own country settings.

Workshops

Implementation Strategies and Plans for Clinical Practice Guidelines
(more details)

The workshop will begin with a presentation on strategies for implementation, costing plans and getting buy-in from funders, consumers and front line clinicians, with examples from experience in New Zealand and Australia(30 mins) Table work (30 mins) using a barrier analysis tool Feedback (15 mins) Presentation on measuring improvements through development of appropriate indicators (15 mins)
Health Technology Assessment of Medical Tests
Introduction to Economic Evaluations
Introduction to Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis
Health Technology Assessment and Prevention: Smoking Cessation and Alcohol Misuse Prevention Strategies – Effective and Cost-Effective Public Health Policies
(more details)

This will be a highly interactive session run by Professor Mike Kelly, the head of the Centre for Public Health of the based on material used to train NICE committee members and on real evidence and economic analyses from NICE's national guidance in these areas. The course will use real case studies from NICE guidance, underpinned by the economic case for public health interventions. The session will also discuss issues of evidential requirements and methodological quality of public health evidence and the challenges of evidence informed public health policies.

By the end of the session, participants will have an understanding of the process NICE follows to develop evidence informed public health guidance, of the core methodological principles and of the policy challenges in implementing public health interventions in the community.
Searching for and Using Health Technology Assessment Evidence
(more details)

This workshop will discuss HTA evidence, ranging from safety, efficacy, value for money, social and ethical impact. Effective methods to identify and select the evidence through both national and international databases will be demonstrated and discussed. The workshop will end with potential applications/examples of using different types of HTA evidences to support different types of policy decisions. This intermediate course is designed for those with/without basic understanding of HTA and evidence synthesis.