The outcome of IHE initiatives is providing better information for developing health policy and best medical practices. IHE disseminates information in many ways. In addition to publications in peer-reviewed journals, IHE produces books and a variety of reports synthesizing information in a particular field.
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This study examined the temporal trends of healthcare service and medicine utilization and explored the care quality of patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) by assessing inappropriate use of medicine, using Alberta's administrative health data from 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2018. The prevalence of CLBP in Alberta increased from 1.8% FY 2011/12 to 3.0% in FY 2017/18, and the…
There have been few epidemiological studies of dysphagia and associated outcomes using administrative datasets. In this study we estimate the proportion of patients with either stroke or head and neck cancer who are additionally diagnosed with dysphagia or aspiration pneumonia, or that have a feeding tube placed. Our analysis is based on a cohort of patients identified in administrative…
| Paula Corabian, Bing Guo, Carmen Moga, Ann Scott
The Health Technology Assessment Program at the Institute of Health Economics has conducted rapid assessments (RAs) since 1993. This information paper draws on this experience and describes the evolution of RA process and products over a 25-year relationship with a single requester to quantify the effects of this partnership on the RAs produced. The aim is to contribute to emergent…
This study originated from discussions on how to translate research findings into conclusions regarding safety and effectiveness in systematic reviews responding to requests from a provincial mechanism for introducing and diffusing publicly funded healthcare technologies. Its objective is to identify prominent and reliable evidence grading systems used in health technology assessment…
This brief outlines some perspectives from the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) based on what we have heard from government, public agencies, and industry, and seeks to summarize the key areas where further clarification and deliberation could be helpful.
As the Federal Government contemplates introducing an element of value-based pricing to the pharmaceutical industry regulatory framework, this report provides an overview of key theoretical and empirical material, to support informed engagement by all stakeholders in this important debate.
On November 1st, 2017, the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) hosted a pan-Canadian roundtable discussion regarding diabetes care and management in indigenous populations in Canada. This event was sponsored through an educational grant from Boehringer Ingelheim Canada, and was developed in consultation with an advisory committee including: Mr. Mehmood Alibhai (Boehringer Ingelheim…
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
L’IHE dans votre poche 2017 – Guide de statistiques sur l’économie de la santé présente et divise les données les plus récentes en sections portant sur le fardeau économique de la maladie, les ressources en soins de santé, les comportements liés à la santé, l'état de santé, les…
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
IHE In Your Pocket 2017 – A Handbook of Health Economic Statistics includes the most currently available data, presented in separate sections on the economic burden of illness, health care resources, health behaviours, health status and demographics, and health system performance. IHE In Your Pocket was designed to provide a compact, comprehensive, and comparative overview…
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 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…
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…
| Arianna Waye, Philip Jacobs, Maria Ospina, Michael Stickland, Irvin Mayers
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…
| Braden Manns, Anderson Chuck, Eddy Nason, Lianne Barnieh, John Sproule, Jasmine Brown
This work, conducted by the Institute for Health Economics (IHE) and the University of Calgary (Health Economics group), was performed to better understand the unmet educational needs and health economics products that could support people in the province, and to determine the current capacity for conducting health economics in Alberta. This paper seeks to understand the needs…
The federal Minister of Health, the Honourable Rona Ambrose, announced the creation of the Advisory Panel on Healthcare Innovation (Panel) on June 24, 2014, to examine innovative health care ideas and approaches that exist in Canada and internationally. The Panel’s mandate is to identify promising innovations, here and internationally, which could help Canada reduce growth…
Primary Care Low Back Exam factsheet - 2006.
Extracted from the Chronic Pain Management Binder November 2005.
Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program
The purpose of this roundtable was to gather a small, select group of thought leaders to engage in informed discourse, which was summarized in a report submitted to the new federal Healthcare Innovation Advisory Panel. This roundtable, created in response to the Federal Healthcare Innovation Advisory Panel’s call for stakeholder input, was an exciting opportunity to…
| Don Husereau, Philip Jacobs, Braden Manns, Ties Hoomans, Deborah Marshall, Robyn Tamblyn
This discussion paper has been produced in response to a request from CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research (CIHR IHSPR). The discussion paper will provide guidance to those tasked with conducting an economic evaluation of complex health system interventions. The guidance will be an elaboration of existing National guidelines for economic evaluation, and serve as…
The objective of this paper is to estimate the additional costs to the criminal justice system associated with people with mental illness who go through the system. The focus of the report is on costs in Alberta.
IHE In Your Pocket 2014 – a handbook of health economic statistics includes the most currently available data, presented in separate sections on the economic burden of illness, health care resources, health behaviours, health status and demographics, and health system performance. IHE In Your Pocket was designed to provide a compact, comprehensive, and comparative overview…
This report is an analysis of the theoretical basis for value-based pricing, relevant international developments, and areas for improvement within Canada’s current patented drug pricing system. This report intends to inform future policy research, advice, and Canadian drug policy discussions regarding the feasibility and implementation of value-based pricing approaches.
| Angus Thompson, Philip Jacobs, Jessica Moffatt, Arianna Waye
This service and evaluation project originated from the Alberta courts via the collaboration of two Alberta Ministries; (1) Alberta Justice & Soliciter General and (2) Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. The impetus arose when a judge in an environmental protection case observed a need for additional attention to the mental health of workers. An Alberta…
The Provincial Industry Payer Agreements in an Era of National Purchasing Strategies half-day invitational roundtable was part of the IHE's ongoing Methodology Forum series supported by the Institute of Health Economics, the Alberta government, and industry partners, AstraZeneca, Merck, and Eli Lilly. The event brought together academic experts, industry leaders and senior decision…
The Institute of Health Economics, in partnership with Alberta Enterprise and Advanced Education, Alberta Health, and Eli Lilly Canada, conducted a roundtable to examine the concept of Alberta Health as a Living Laboratory. The ‘Living Laboratory’ concept builds off the recognition of the unique assets and opportunity we have in Alberta, including a single health authority…
This project is concerned with describing a comprehensive set of HTA products, not the methods used to produce them. The report describes various products produced by HTA agencies and provides a summary of the basic elements of these products, but an in-depth analysis of, or comparison between, the various products in terms of their methodology is beyond its scope. Information…
| Carmen Moga, Bing Guo, Don Schopflocher, Christa Harstall
This Methodology Paper summarizes the process, a modified Delphi approach, used to develop a specific checklist for the quality appraisal of case series studies. This work was supplemented with a review of other published checklists and an initial pilot test of the newly developed quality appraisal checklist. Researchers at the Institute of Health Economics with researchers from…
This report describes a framework for evaluating policies developed within the Alberta Health Technologies Decision Process (AHTDP) to strengthen the link between policy development and evidence. The framework was designed as a foundation upon which to build a more detailed and contextualized evaluative process in consultation with all stakeholders who are likely to be affected…
| Carissa Escober-Doran, Philip Jacobs, Carolyn Dewa
This study measures the return on investment for parent training at the pre- or early childhood stage. The purpose is to prevent conduct disorders in childhood, and mental health problems in adolescence and adulthood. The program studied is the Triple P program. The context is a one year birth cohort in Alberta. The costs are for a universal parental training program. The downstream…
| Philip Jacobs, Jessica Moffatt, Egon Jonsson, Arto Ohinmaa, Cathy Gladwin
The Institute of Health Economics (IHE) has completed a scan to determine what public health-related costs are borne by government departments, ministries, and agencies. The final report, Everybody’s Business: The Cost of Multi-Department Involvement in Public Health in Alberta, was funded by Alberta Health Services (AHS) as part of the Project 2030 initiative that saw the…
The Alberta Survey of Addictive Behaviours and Mental Health in the Workforce: 2009 is the third such study conducted since 1992. It provides an interesting, comprehensive picture of many issues related to the mental health of workers across all sectors in Alberta. Introduction IHE is pleased to release the final report of The Alberta Survey of Addictive Behaviours and Mental Health…
A National Roundtable Discussion on Innovative Approaches to Industry-Payor Agreements took place on April 3th, 2011 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver in Vancouver, British Columbia in association with the annual meeting of the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH). This one-day invitational event engaged experts, industry leaders and senior decision makers…
The purpose of this paper is to provide background information on "game changing innovations" in support of the February 24, 2011 conference Becoming the Best: Building a Sustainable Health System – Game Changing Health Innovations. It was developed by the Institute of Health Economics and funded by Alberta Health Services (AHS) as part of a future focused analysis of the…
| Philip Jacobs, Jessica Moffatt, John Rapoport, Neil Bell
This overview provides an analysis of the economic landscape of primary care in Alberta and a discussion of the proposed reforms in terms of ends and means.
IHE In Your Pocket 2010 provides current health economic statistics, presented in separate sections on health care resources, health behaviours, health status and demographics, and health system performance.
To access the IHE PowerPoint chartpack, please click the following link: IHE PowerPoint Slides.
The economic impact of mental illness and addictions is felt throughout society - in the health care system, the social services system, education, criminal justice, and the workplace. In this booklet we conducted a provincial and national level analysis of the expenditures on mental health and addictions in Canada.
| Deborah Marshall, Paul Rogers, Thomas Rohleder, Sonia Vanderby
This booklet provides an overview of the System Dynamics (SD) approach and its potential applications in improving access to health services and quality of care. The specific application addressed here is the improvement of care of patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA), as this is a pressing issue in Canada today. The specific health system and population addressed here…
Les estimations indiquent que un canadien sur trois aura un problème de santé mentale durant sa vie. Peu de canadiens réalisent l’impact que la mauvaise santé mentale a sur les familles, les communautés, les systèmes de santé et l’économie. La santé mentale est aussi importante que la santé physique…
The use of the term “comparative effectiveness” (CE) has attracted considerable attention, particularly in the United States. This booklet examines the concept of CE and its relationship to other assessment frameworks.
This report on assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) is a literature review and secondary analyses of administrative health data conducted to provide information on the direct health care costs associated with multiple pregnancies and the potential cost impact of ARTs in Alberta. It examines the impact of multiple pregnancies and Assistive Reproductive Technologies on health…
| Arto Ohinmaa, Carolyn Dewa, Trish Chatterley, Philip Jacobs
The mental health economics literature review shows that about one third of the articles found in the search did not include any or just minimal economic information. The database of 4005 references can be used to analyze the mental health economic literature e.g. by diagnosis, type of economic analysis, treatment, publication year, and targeted population.
How much should we spend on mental health? provides an overview of the various approaches that have been used to answer the question of health spending, applied to the mental health context. Estimates using several of the approaches are provided.
Information Specialists: Trish Chatterley, Liz Dennett
The Importance of Measuring Health Related Quality of Life report provides an overview of health-related quality of life (HRQL) measurement to facilitate and understanding of such measures to be used in both clinical practice and research. Health-related quality of life (HRQL) measures have been widely used in health research in recent years and have been the endpoint in many clinical…
IHE In Your Pocket (IHE IYP) presents a bird’s eye view of the economic aspects of the Canadian healthcare system with international comparisons. IHE IYP 2008 has been reorganized and expanded, and includes the most currently available data. Topics are presented related to resources first, addressing in turn economic burden of illness, expenditures, physical resources, prices,…
| David Hailey, Jeremy Grimshaw, Martin Eccles, Craig Mitton, Carol E. Adair, Emily McKenzie, Scott Patten, Brenda Waye-Perry, Leif Rentzhog, Paul Taenzer, Christa Harstall, Saifee Rashiq, Pamela Barton, Don Schopflocher, Lynda Jobin
Effective Dissemination of Findings from Research contains essays resulting from a workshop on effective dissemination of findings from research organized by the Institute of Health Economics. The publication is intended as one of the many available resources on dissemination of research findings for those interested in the subject. Chapter 3 of this report originally appeared…
This booklet brings together information that demonstrates the burden of mental illness and where Canada’s mental health system ranks among other developed countries. It also provides important consolidated information on key indicators that depict the state of our mental health system.
World In Your Pocket - A Handbook of International Health Economic Statistics includes the most current available data, presented in separate sections on health status, health care costs, health resources, health resources, health resource utilization, and health system performance.
| Philip Jacobs, Rita Yim, Arto Ohinmaa, Janice Varney, Anita Hanrahan, Joy Loewen, Laura Mashinter, Bev Baptiste, Margaret Russell
This booklet is a compendium of existing statistics related to the economic aspect of childhood immunizations in Canada. It brings together, in one document, data obtained from a wide range of sources. It covers topics related to the economic and epidemiological burden of childhood diseases, resources used, and system performance from provincial, national, and international viewpoints.
| Anderson Chuck, Philip Jacobs, Thanh Nguyen, Arto Ohinmaa, Janice Varney
Evaluation of enzyme immunoassay and immunoblot testing for the diagnosis of syphilis in Alberta. A new protocol for testing and diagnosing syphilis has been proposed in Alberta. The protocol proposes replacing rapid plasma reagin (RPR) with enzyme immunoassay (EIA) as the standard initial test and replacing Treponema pallidum (T. pallidum) particle agglutination assay (TPPA) and…
This Mental Health Economic Statistics booklet brings together information that demonstrates the burden of mental illness and where Canada’s mental health system ranks among other developed countries. Mental Health Economic Statistics provides important consolidated information on key indicators that depict the state of our mental health system. NOTE: In 2006 the Alberta…
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Initiative #24. Health technology assessments (HTAs) routinely identify questions or research ‘gaps’ that are not adequately addressed by the primary research. The unique situation of having an HTA unit housed within a provincial research funding organization provided an ideal setting for linking research…
Institute of Health Economics Working Paper WP 06-02. The purpose of this report is to examine the economic implications for the province if a supplement to the fee schedule were allowed for vacuum-assisted biopsies. NOTE: In 2006 the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research HTA unit moved to IHE. Documents produced in and prior to 2006 have different formats; the format…
| Philip Jacobs, Arto Ohinmaa, Scott Klarenbach, Anderson Chuck, Raj Padwal, Janice Varney, Doug Lier
Institute of Health Economics Working Paper WP 06-01. The purpose of this report is to examine the economic issues associated with LGB. The following analyses were conducted: a systematic review of the economic literature on obesity-related interventions, with special attention to the differences between gastric bypass and gastric banding; an estimate of the Alberta population…
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Initiative #20. Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is the systematic evaluation of properties, effects and/or other impacts of health care technology. Its primary purpose is to provide objective information to support health care decisions and policy making at the local, regional, national and international levels. NOTE:…
| Sheri Pohar, Sumit Majumdar, Philip Jacobs, Jeffrey Johnson
Institute of Health Economics Working Paper WP 06-04. The purpose of this analysis was to compare health care utilization as well as costs and mortality of individuals with diabetes in the province of Saskatchewan from 1999 to 2001, according to residential location. NOTE: In 2006 the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research HTA unit moved to IHE. Documents produced in…
| Margaret Wanke, Don Juzwishin, Richard Thornley, Liza Chan
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Initiative #16. The objectives of this review were: To propose a generic evaluation framework for HTA agencies to strengthen their evaluation capacity. To conduct a review of HTA agencies to understand what aspects of HTA agencies have been evaluated, approaches/methods used, outcomes of hte evaluations and to understand…
This is the first edition of IHE In Your Pocket. This chart book is designed to be an easy reference guide to indicators of Canadian health care economic performance. Economic is broadly defined to include both means (personal and formal resources) and ends (health outcomes). The chart book is intended to provide the user with a concise, accessible, and reasonably comprehensive…
| David Cooke, Meina Dubetz, Rahim Heshmati, Sandra Iftody, Erin McKimmon, Jodi Powers, Robert Lee, Peter Dunscombe
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Initiative #22. We present a model process that will assist health care organizations in developing and implementing a formal management system for learning from incidens. Developed specifically for the Radiation Treatment (RT) Program at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, a major cancer treatment centre in Calgary, Alberta,…
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Initiative #21. Much of the activity and purpose of HTA is related to interaction with organizations and individuals with interests in the technologies that are being considered. The focus is often stakeholders with major financial or operational responsbilities for health technologies, including government authorities,…
Institute of Health Economics Working Paper WP 05-07. The aim of this paper is to compare health in Canada and the United States using a preference-based measure. NOTE: In 2006 the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research HTA unit moved to IHE. Documents produced in and prior to 2006 have different formats; the format was determined by the agency for which the document…
Institute of Health Economics Working Paper WP 05-03. Missing data is a common problem in studies that collect data on patient-reported outcomes data. This paper reports the methods, results, and an evaluation of one method for imputing missince Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) data in a study of health-related quality of life (HRQL) in a cohort of patients…
| Sheri Pohar, Scot Simpson, Sumit Majumdar, Philip Jacobs, Arto Ohinmaa, William Osei, Mary Rose Stang, Winanne Downey, Jeffrey Johnson
Institute of Health Economics Working Paper WP 05-06. The purpose of this study was to analyze epidemiologic and cost trends from 1991 to 2001 in the province of Saskatchewan for a cohort of individuals identified as having diabetes and for a randomly selected control cohort. The objectives were to: explore epidemiologic trends (i.e., prevalence, incidence and mortality) in diabetes…
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Initiative #18. This paper has two specific objectives: to describe some of the challenges of using research evidence to inform healthcare policy making; and to provide policy makers and researchers with a framework or tool that would identify and facilitate the use of research evidence and other information in healthcare…
| Sheri Maddigan, David Feeny, Sumit Majumdar, Karen Farris, Jeffrey Johnson
Institute of Health Economics Working Paper WP 05-02. The purpose of this report was to assess the cross-sectional construct validity of the Health Utilities Mark 3 (HUI3) in type 2 diabetes using population-health survey data. NOTE: In 2006 the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research HTA unit moved to IHE. Documents produced in and prior to 2006 have different formats;…
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) Information Paper #25. The aim of this report is to provide a cost estimate, over a one year time period from a payer’s perspective, of Biosite Triage Point-of-Care (POC) B-Type Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) assay used to rule out congestive heart failure (CHF) from other pulmonary conditions for patients presenting in…
| Sheri Maddigan, David Feeny, Sumit Majumdar, Karen Farris, Jeffrey Johnson
Institute of Health Economics Working Paper WP 05-01. The objective of this paper is to assess a broad range of determinants of health to determine which are most strongly associated with health-related quality of life (HRQL) in people with type 2 diabetes. NOTE: In 2006 the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research HTA unit moved to IHE. Documents produced in and prior…
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) Information Paper #23. The activities of the HTA Unit in 2002–2003, as reflected in various types of reports it had produced and related dissemination activities, were reviewed in a paper published in 2004. The paper provided an overview of the effectiveness of the Unit as an aid to its future management, drawing on…
| Robert Lee, Karie-Lynn Kelly, Chris Newcomb, David Cooke, Edidiong Ekaette, Peter Craighead, Peter Dunscombe
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Initiative #15. This paper summarizes the first steps in a research program designed to inform technology assessment and decision-making associated with radiotherapy (treatment of cancer with ionizing radiation) at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre (TBCC) in Calgary, Alberta. NOTE: In 2006 the Alberta Heritage Foundation for…
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Initiative #13. Appraising the quality of evidence is an important, yet difficult task, complicated by the consideration of disparate evidence. Quality checklists for assessing RCTs abound, yet it is acknowledged that even within this single study the reliability, validity, feasibility and utility of the various tools…