IHE Publications

Headache Self-Management factsheet - 2013, revised 2016 Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program

Headache Pain factsheet - 2013, revised 2016 Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program

Medication Overuse Headache factsheet - 2013, revised 2016 Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program

Migraine Headache factsheet - 2013, revised 2016 Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program

Migraine Preventive Medications factsheet - 2013, revised 2016 Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program

Tension-type Headache factsheet - 2013, revised 2016 Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program

This lists all the documents/websites relevant to the guideline that are available on the IHE and TOP websites, both clinician and patient resources. Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program

Headache During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding factsheet - 2016 Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program

What You Should Know About Your Headache - Patient Brochure - 2016 Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program

Objective: Public health decision makers not only consider health benefits but also economic implications when articulating and issuing lifestyle recommendations. Whereas various estimates exist for the economic burden of physical inactivity, excess body weight and smoking, estimates of the economic burden associated with our diet are rare. In the present study, we estimated the…

On December 12th, 2016, the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) held a roundtable discussion regarding the role of real-world evidence (RWE) in decision-making in Canada, with a focus on RWE generated for pricing and reimbursement. The meeting brought together 11 representatives of key stakeholders: experts in evidence assessment, payers, and those generating RWE including academia…

This overview report provides a summary of the published information on the oxygen therapy issues studied in the past 10 years in the acute care settings. The report includes a summary of audit studies that aimed to address appropriate/inappropriate use of oxygen, and explores the safety and quality issues identified in the literature about oxygen prescription, administration,…

This report provides a summary of the IHE Biosimilars Forum engagement exercise that took place on October 6, 2016 in Edmonton. The intent of the forum was to inform Alberta biosimilar reimbursement policy by sharing international experiences in this area, and the perspectives of key stakeholders.

This rapid report provides a summary of current evidence on the application of gainsharing shared savings strategies in healthcare systems and the barriers and facilitators related to their implementation.

Economic evaluation helps policy makers and healthcare payers make decisions on drug listing, coverage, and reimbursement. When economic evaluations are conducted before a product launch, the prices of the pharmaceuticals have to be forecast.

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Gregory P. Marchildon, Ontario Research Chair in Health Policy and System Design and Professor, Institute of Health, Policy and Evaluation, University of Toronto; Associate Editor of the Health Reform Observer and originating member of the Pan-Canadian Health Reform Analysis Network (PHRAN). IHE Innovation Forum XVI – Controlling Health…

Controlling Health Care Costs – Wisely is the 16th IHE Innovation Forum, a semi-annual event bringing together senior public- and private-sector experts and decision-makers to address health care policy issues.

The Institute of Health Economics (IHE), in partnership with the Canadian Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (CPFF), held a forum on April 25th, 2016 in Toronto, Ontario, entitled Optimizing access to care for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: A multi-stakeholder national forum, to discuss the need for patient-led policy recommendations and a patient charter for idiopathic…

  BACKGROUND: In February 2013, Alberta Health Services established an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) implementation program for adopting the ERAS Society colorectal guidelines into 6 sites (initial phase) that perform more than 75% of all colorectal surgeries in the province. We conducted an economic evaluation of this initiative to not only determine its cost-effectiveness,…

This IHE Invitational Forum provided the perspective of international, national, and Alberta speakers and panellists who described the biosimilar reimbursement approach taken and outcomes achieved by other jurisdictions, guiding principles and policy options for Alberta, and key performance indicators and targets for reimbursement policy going forward.

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Asbjørn Mack, Chief Negotiator Pharamaceuticals, LIS, Norway. 6 Oct 2016 – IHE Biosimilars Forum

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Mr. Murray Aitken, Senior VP and Executive Director, IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. 6 Oct 2016 – IHE Biosimilars Forum

This lists all the documents/websites relevant to the guideline that are available on the IHE and TOP websites, both clinician and patient resources. Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program

This white paper follows on from the 2016 IHE report, Economic surveillance for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Alberta. It provides a summary of main gaps in COPD care across Canada and, in the context of a broad economic framework, it surveys important examples of programs and policies designed to address these gaps.

  OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the trends and regional variation of stroke hospital care in 30-day in-hospital mortality, hospital length of stay (LOS), and 1-year total hospitalization cost after implementation of the Alberta Provincial Stroke Strategy.

“The Canadian Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Patient Charter is a way to call upon policymakers, health care providers and private payers to recognize IPF as a rare, rapidly lethal, chronic disease and to join in the campaign for greater awareness of this illness. The ultimate goal is to improve the overall quality and standards of care and ensure equal access to a continuum…

High Needs & High Cost Patients in Healthcare – How do we improve outcomes for these patients? is the 15th IHE Innovation Forum, a semi-annual event bringing together senior public- and private-sector experts and decision-makers to address health care policy issues.

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Mr. Truman Severson, Vice President, Innovation and Business Development, Covenant Health. IHE Innovation Forum XV – High Needs & High Cost Patients in Healthcare – How do we improve outcomes for these patients?

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Clemens Hong, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Community Health Improvement, Community Health & Integrated Programs, County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services. IHE Innovation Forum XV – High Needs & High Cost Patients in Healthcare – How do we improve outcomes for these patients?

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Richard Lewanczuk, Senior Medical Director, Provincial Primary Health Care, Alberta Health Services; Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta. IHE Innovation Forum XV – High Needs & High Cost Patients in Healthcare – How do we improve outcomes for these patients?

  BACKGROUND: Eplerenone has been demonstrated as being cost effective for the treatment of patients with systolic heart failure (HF) and mild symptoms in several jurisdictions; however, its cost effectiveness is unknown in the context of Alberta, Canada.

  Objective: The objective of this paper is to estimate the additional mental health service costs incurred within the criminal justice system that are incurred because of people with mental illnesses who go through the system. Our focus is on costs in Alberta.

The Institute of Health Economics (IHE) together with the O’Brien Institute for Public Health (O’Brien Institute) held a policy forum on February 8th, 2016, entitled Physicians as Stewards of Resources: Roles, Responsibilities, and Remuneration to inform decision-making regarding the fiscal sustainability of theprovincial healthcare system, with a specific…

This PDF is a summary infographic related to the Economic surveillance for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Alberta report.

Objectives: In 2006, the Alberta Ministry of Health issued a policy to implement fetal fibronectin (fFN) testing as a publicly funded service for pregnant women. The goals were to reduce maternity health care utilization and unnecessary treatment, which would result in cost-savings for the health system by more accurately diagnosing false preterm labour. We conducted a post-policy…

This guide has been developed by the information specialists at the Institute of Health Economics in Edmonton Alberta and is intended to facilitate searching for health technology assessments (HTAs) or systematic reviews by providing the list of current and reliable internet-based resources that we regularly use in our work. We have tried as much as possible to match this guide…

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Martin Kolb, MD, PhD, Professor, Division of Respirology, Department of Medicine, McMaster University. Optimizing Access to Care for Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Multi-stakeholder National Forum

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Meena Kalluri, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, University of Alberta. Optimizing Access to Care for Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Multi-stakeholder National Forum

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Mr. Robert Davidson, President, Canadian Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (CPFF). Optimizing Access to Care for Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Multi-stakeholder National Forum

In October 2015, we held the first Canadian consensus discussion that led to provisional recommendations regarding special considerations for policy-making and healthcare decisionmaking for interventions in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The meeting included 11 representatives of key stakeholders: patients, care providers, and policy researchers from across…

On April 25th, The Institute of Health Economics (IHE), in partnership with the Canadian Foundation for Pulmonary Fibrosis (CPFF) and supported by an unrestricted grant from Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. (BI), held a national, multi-stakeholder roundtable forum to discuss policy recommendations on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) care.

This report provides the results of an economic surveillance analysis on the components of the Alberta healthcare system that are devoted to COPD prevention and treatment. It focuses on epidemiology (prevalence and incidence), service use, and cost indicators, and identifies gaps in the system that presumably add to the overall economic burden of COPD. PDF of the above image:  IHE…

IHE brochure discussing a study on the use of technology to prevent FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder). FASD Ongoing Initiative Prevention of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder by the Use of Technology Study

Alberta STE Report written under contract with the Alberta Health Technologies Decision Process (AHTDP). This STE report examines the safety, screening accuracy, therapeutic efficacy/effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, budget impact, and health system readiness of newborn screening for seven conditions (galactosemia, tyrosinemia type I, homocystinuria, sickle cell anemia, sickle…

  Objectives: To estimate the life expectancy and specify the causes of death among people with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Methods: Included were all patients recorded in Alberta provincial databases of inpatients, outpatients, or practitioner claims from 2003 to 2012. People with FAS were identified by ICD-9 code 760.71 and ICD-10 codes Q86.0 and P04.3, and were linked…

The IHE quality appraisal checklist for case series studies developed by a group of researchers at the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) in collaboration with researchers from two other health technology assessment (HTA) agencies in Australia and Spain.

The IHE Quality Appraisal Checklist for Case Series Studies and guidance document developed by a group of researchers at the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) in collaboration with researchers from two other health technology assessment (HTA) agencies in Australia and Spain.

Alberta STE Report written under contract with the Alberta Health Technologies Decision Process (AHTDP). This rapid report has been produced in response to a request from Alberta Health to provide an update on the new published research evidence on the efficacy/effectiveness, efficiency, and safety of hysteroscopic tubal sterilization (HTS) using the Essure® system for permanent…

The Institute of Health Economics (IHE) is a unique collaborative arrangement among government, academia, and industry. Established in 1995, the IHE is committed to gathering and disseminating evidence-based findings from health economics, health policy, health technology assessment and comparative effectiveness research to support health policy and practice.  

The economics of addictions and mental health deals with how we can best distribute available resources and achieve good mental health outcomes. A variety of techniques, such as health technology assessments, costing, cost effectiveness, and cost benefit analysis are used to provide information for policy makers. IHE has been active in the area of economic evaluations of mental…

Alberta STE Report written under contract with the Alberta Health Technologies Decision Process (AHTDP). This report is an update of the “Technological efficacy/effectiveness analysis” (T) section of the 2014 Alberta STE report, which was an evidence assessment of the clinical effectiveness and safety of endovenous ablation interventions for symptomatic varicose veins…

  Abstract: Canada having a universal health insurance plan that provides hospital and physician benefits offers a natural experiment of whether continuity ofcare actually provides lower or higher utilization of services. The question we are evaluating is whether Canadians, who have a regular physician, use more health resources than those who do not have one? Using two statistical…

The Institute of Health Economics (IHE) together with the O’Brien Institute for Public Health (O’Brien Institute) held a policy forum on February 8th, 2016, entitled Physicians as Stewards of Resources: Roles, Responsibilities, and Remuneration to inform decision-making regarding the fiscal sustainability of the provincial healthcare system, with a specific focus…

The IHE/O’Brien Physicians as Stewards of Resources: Roles, Responsibilities and Remuneration Policy Forum aims to inform decision-making regarding the fiscal sustainability of the provincial healthcare system, with a specific focus on physicians as stewards of public resources. The forum, which will also be attended by Health Minister Sarah Hoffman as lunch keynote speaker,…

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Dr. William Ghali, MD, MPH, FRCPC, Scientific Director, O'Brien Institute for Public Health. IHE/O’Brien Physicians as Stewards of Resources: Roles, Responsibilities, and Remuneration Policy Forum

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Dr. David Naylor, President Emeritus and Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto. IHE/O’Brien Physicians as Stewards of Resources: Roles, Responsibilities, and Remuneration Policy Forum

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Peter Kaboli, Hospitalist and Chief of Medicine, Iowa City VA Healthcare System. IHE/O’Brien Physicians as Stewards of Resources: Roles, Responsibilities, and Remuneration Policy Forum

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Dr. David Price, Professor and Chair, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University. IHE/O’Brien Physicians as Stewards of Resources: Roles, Responsibilities, and Remuneration Policy Forum

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Sharon Straus, Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto. IHE/O’Brien Physicians as Stewards of Resources: Roles, Responsibilities, and Remuneration Policy Forum

PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Carl Nohr, President, Alberta Medical Association, and Mr. Mike Gormley, Executive Director, Alberta Medical Association. IHE/O’Brien Physicians as Stewards of Resources: Roles, Responsibilities, and Remuneration Policy Forum

Acute Low Back Pain Brochure - 2016 Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program

Chronic Low Back Pain Brochure - 2016 Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program

Low Back Pain companion document - 2016 Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program