Your biweekly update on health economics, policy, and impact
This edition brings together insights on how regulation must catch up to medical advancements to improve patient outcomes, alongside the new OHE podcast, A Dose of Economics.
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Grace Hampson, Director
The science exists – but lagging policies hinder patient access
When it comes to life-saving treatments, every minute between diagnosis and treatment counts. Our most recent report demonstrates how the systematic use of fast diagnostics could lead to far fewer sepsis-related deaths and significantly decrease long-term post-sepsis complications for patients. The science is there – but health systems continue to undervalue and underrecognise the broader contributions of these fast diagnostic technologies.
Similarly, health policy and health technology assessment (HTA) approaches rarely capture the population-level health benefits generated by new antimicrobials. This gap between policy and medical advancement hinders both innovation and patient access. Our research shows that the European Union (EU) Joint Clinical Assessment (JCA) offers a unique opportunity to align EU HTA policy with objectives around tackling antimicrobial resistance, if the JCA framework can be adapted to incorporate wider health benefits at a population level of antibiotics.
In other news at OHE, we have started a podcast, A Dose of Economics – hosted by yours truly – where we dive into some of the most pressing questions in healthcare and health policy. Do sign up to hear more about it here.
Fast diagnostics could transform sepsis care
The value of fast diagnostics in time-critical infections
Delays in diagnostic pathways for bloodstream infections can increase the risk of deterioration, sepsis, and avoidable deaths. A multi-country economic evaluation shows that fast identification and susceptibility testing can shorten time to targeted therapy, improve survival, and reduce long-term health losses. Across seven countries, the analysis demonstrates cost savings at hospital and population level.
Evaluating novel antimicrobials within EU joint clinical assessments
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) continues to be a threat to health systems and economies, but the current HTA frameworks often fail to capture the broader value of new antimicrobials. The EU’s Joint Clinical Assessment could become a critical lever for recognising wider health benefits, including those captured by the STEDI framework. It also finds that the current approach is not fit-for-purpose and may risk undermining wider European AMR efforts.
OHE is launching A Dose of Economics, a podcast hosted by Grace Hampson, where we sit down with leading experts to talk through questions in health economics, resource allocation, and healthcare policy. Each episode gets into the issues shaping decisions today, from NICE thresholds and drug pricing to AI in health economics, AMR, and how we measure value in healthcare. New episodes every Tuesday.
Lowering Cholesterol, Increasing the Impact: The Case for Earlier Action to Address the CV Epidemic
A World Health Assembly Side Event, co-hosted by OHE & MSD
Join us at our World Health Assembly side event on Thursday, 21 May 2026, in Geneva as global health leaders, policymakers and experts come together to discuss one of the most urgent, yet preventable, drivers of cardiovascular disease worldwide: elevated LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C).
This invitation-only session will focus on new evidence on the global burden of ASCVD and how earlier, smarter prevention can improve outcomes for patients and health systems worldwide.
