The global healthcare ecosystem is undergoing a profound transformation with every advancement driven by evidence, value, and impact on overall health outcomes. Global health systems are increasingly facing pressures of rising healthcare costs, broader disparities, aging populations, and changing patient expectations.[1] A growing realization against this complex setting is that healthcare decisions must be supported with thorough, transparent research as evidence-based policies and outcomes-driven strategies increasingly gain prominence. With this evolution, the role of health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) is becoming crucial to how health interventions are developed, assessed, and approved.[2] As a result, the Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), in July 2024, launched its “Strategic Plan 2030,” an elaborate proposal seeking to reimagine the global definition, measurement, and application of healthcare value.[3, 4]
The Strategic Plan 2030 essentially symbolizes universally accessible, efficient, and affordable healthcare.[3, 4] While ISPOR continues to develop HEOR excellence to enhance healthcare decision-making, the urgency to do the same has now intensified. ISPOR commits itself to six core values to guide every action – transformative philosophy, scientific reliability, inclusivity, collaboration, transparency, and ethical accuracy. These values are not merely ambitious statements, but a representation of working principles ISPOR deems necessary to deal with the increasingly complex healthcare landscape driven by technological advancements and patient outcomes. By practicing these principles, ISPOR aims to improve academic research, thereby driving real-world health improvements across populations and geographies.[5, 6]
The Strategic Plan 2030 defines two goals that outline its course. The first goal is to globally lead the definition, measurement, and use of healthcare value. In a world of competing preferences and inadequate resources, the wider definition of ‘value’ in healthcare becomes crucial. ISPOR seeks to develop a scientific basis to guide all stakeholders, including payers, providers, policymakers, and patients, toward a mutual understanding of value, which takes into consideration clinical outcomes, patient experiences, costs, and system sustainability. It is not only about producing more data but also about developing outlines for converting complex evidence into feasible, unbiased decision-making instruments.[4, 5]
ISPOR’s second goal complements the first goal of scientific aspiration in that it seeks to become the trusted HEOR agency that guides health policy change across the globe. ISPOR realizes the significance of research beyond its insights to impact the design and development of policies, allocation of their funding, and resulting care delivery. Connecting knowledge generation and policy action is difficult, necessitating technical expertise, strategic communication, building partnerships, and public trust. ISPOR foresees a future where policymakers prioritize HEOR, realizing the importance of systems proactively shaped by evidence.[5, 6]
The structure of ISPOR’s Strategic Plan 2030 is driven by three crucial global healthcare elements. The first is the increasing pressure around affordability and sustainability. Healthcare costs are rising rapidly compared to most economies, jeopardizing the feasibility of systems that fail to update and prioritize cost-effectiveness for a system-wide impact. Second, the digital revolution that is transforming the healthcare landscape, from artificial intelligence (AI) to remote monitoring to personalized medicine, necessitates new HEOR approaches for evaluating technologies to result in a continuous impact. The third element is the global change toward a whole health perspective, where well-being signifies holistic integration of physical, mental, and social health, going beyond merely the absence of disease. ISPOR’s work symbolizes this wider, more human-centric perspective of health outcomes.[3, 4]
Execution of the Strategic Plan 2030 will be fundamentally collective, signifying ISPOR’s belief that no single entity can address modern health challenges alone. ISPOR aims to encourage scientifically robust and indisputably inclusive discussion by developing platforms that connect researchers, regulators, payers, industry innovators, and patient advocacy groups. Programmes, such as the Global Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Roundtables [7] demonstrate how ISPOR aims to connect different voices to tackle common concerns, impart best practices, and lead collective development. For this, ISPOR is building an ecosystem for translating knowledge into actionable insights by means of training programs, thought leadership publications, global conferences, and multisectoral partnerships.[3, 4]
Eventually, ISPOR’s Strategic Plan 2030 is a result of a growing realization that the future of healthcare is driven not only by discoveries of new interventions or implementation of new technologies, but by making smarter, more appropriate decisions on resource utilization and value definition. The Plan is a call to action for researchers, policymakers, industry leaders, and patients to come together in this collective mission of optimizing evidence, enhancing outcomes-driven thinking, and creating a fair and sustainable healthcare future that genuinely caters to the needs of all people. Through the Strategic Plan 2030, ISPOR is outlining a course for the global health community toward a world with better decisions, achieving better health outcomes and better lives.
Become A Certified HEOR Professional – Enrol yourself here!
References:
- Hong C, Sun L, Liu G, Guan B, Li C, Luo Y. Response of Global Health Towards the Challenges Presented by Population Aging. China CDC Wkly. 2023;5(39):884-7.
- Abraham I, Mickael H, C. LKK, Leslie C, L. CG, and Gregg M. What to expect in 2024: important health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) trends. Journal of Medical Economics. 2024;27(1):69-76.
- ISPOR Announces New Strategic Plan 2030: ISPOR; 2024 [cited 2025 26th April]. Available from: https://www.ispor.org/heor-resources/news-top/news/view/2024/07/29/ispor-announces-new-strategic-plan-2030.
- ISPOR Strategic Plan 2030 ISPOR; 2024 [cited 2025 26th April]. Available from: https://www.ispor.org/heor-resources/news-top/news/view/2024/07/29/ispor-announces-new-strategic-plan-2030.
- Walker J. ISPOR’s new strategic plan underscores importance of accessible, effective, efficient, and affordable global health care UK: Becaris Publishing; 2024 [cited 2025 26th April]. Available from: https://becarispublishing.com/digital-content/blog-post/ispor-s-new-strategic-plan-underscores-importance-accessible-effective-efficient-and.
- Pizzi LT, Abbott RM, Onukwugha E. Taking Health Economics and Outcomes Research Forward: Expanding the Definition of Value to Include Whole Health. Value in Health. 2025.
- ISPOR Publishes Insights From Its First Global HTA Roundtable – Fostering International Collaboration Among Health Technology Assessment Experts: ISPOR; 2025 [cited 2025 26th April]. Available from: https://www.ispor.org/heor-resources/news-top/news/2025/04/21/ispor-publishes-insights-from-its-first-global-hta-roundtable.