Vakaramoko “Karam” Diaby, Ph.D., M.Sc., an assistant professor of pharmaceutical outcomes and policy in the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, led a team of researchers who placed third in the PhRMA Foundation’s Challenge Award contest aimed at addressing health disparities and underrepresented groups in value assessment.
The PhRMA Foundation solicited proposals from researchers across the country on how value assessment can better capture evidence regarding diverse populations and drivers of health disparities. Diaby’s submission was titled, “Incorporating Health Equity into Value Assessment: Frameworks, Promising Alternatives, and Future Directions.” It included examples where evidence on outcomes and preferences for value do not take into consideration diverse perspectives, while addressing processes that inadequately account for health disparities and underrepresented populations. Diaby’s team identified possible solutions to improve existing value assessment methods and used a hypothetical case study that could be implemented as part of the value-based assessment of prevention choices for women at high risk of developing breast cancer.
“This work advances the debate on the integration of diversity and equity in value assessments of health care technologies from both a methodological and health policy viewpoint,” Diaby said. “Specifically, we propose a range of solutions to address the limitations of existing value assessment frameworks, starting from the generation of appropriate elements of value, equity data to the adoption of robust data aggregation methods.”
Diaby’s collaborators on the paper included, Askal Ali, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Florida A&M University; Aram Babcock, Pharm.D., R.Ph., M.S., M.B.A., a graduate student in the UF College of Pharmacy; Joseph Fuhr, Ph.D., an online instructor in the UF College of Pharmacy; and Dejana Braithwaite, Ph.D., a professor in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions.