The Health Policy Statistics Section (HPSS) is pleased to announce its program for the 2011 Joint Statistical Meetings in Miami Beach, Florida. We have a packed program that covers a range of topics in health policy research and applications. HPSS is the primary sponsor for one short course, four invited sessions, five topic-contributed sessions, and six contributed sessions.

HPSS will present its usual Wednesday speaker luncheon, this year by Rod Little, who will give a talk titled “Calibrated Bayes, Models, and the Role of Randomization in Surveys and Experiments.” Additionally, HPSS is sponsoring several A.M. and P.M. roundtable discussions. These provide a great opportunity to learn about new topics while meeting others with similar interests. Be sure to register for the speaker luncheon or roundtables before the meeting or soon after arrival; tickets must be purchased at least 24 hours before the event, and roundtables often sell out.

The section mixer and business meeting will be held on August 1 from 5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Van Dyke Cafe and feature free food and drink, amiable company, and presentation of the HPSS student awards. HPSS members, organizers, speakers, discussants, and friends are invited.

The following events can be identified on the JSM online program by selecting “Section on Health Policy Statistics” as the sponsor.

Short Course

August 1
Meta-Analysis: Combining the Results of Multiple Studies

Invited Sessions

July 31
The Role of Statistics in Comparative Effectiveness Research

August 1
Making Sense of Multiple Outcomes: Challenges for Randomized Trials and Observational Studies

August 2
Latest Developments on Analysis of Missing Data

August 3
Using Advanced Visual Analytics to Improve Safety Assessment and Decisionmaking in Drug Development

Topic-Contributed Sessions

August 1
Health Policy Statistics Student Paper Competition Presentation

August 2
Evaluation of Disclosure Limitation Methods for Medical Records and Claims Data as a Means to Increasing Access for Researchers

August 3
Personalized Medicine and Convergence: Prospect for Statisticians

August 4
Recent Advances and Future Directions in Latent Class Analysis
What Is the Big Deal About Balance? Assessment and Implications of Group Equivalence When Using Propensity Scores

Contributed Sessions

July 31
Survey of Methods to Analyze Complex Data
Measurement Bias and Error and Accuracy

August 1
Novel Analytical Solutions to Health Outcomes
Solutions to Various Complexities in the Analysis of Health Data

August 2
Synthetic Data, Matching and Genetic Algorithms

August 4
Statistical Modeling of Patient Care and Benefit Data

Roundtables

August 1
Beyond Propensity Scores: What Could Be Finer?
Data Confidentiality: Health Policy Perspective

August 2
Do You Want to Visit Australasia?
Teaching Health Policy Statistics in the Pacific Islands

August 3
Preparing to Work in a Developing Country
Improving Communications Between FDA, sponsor, and Advisory Panel
Relative Efficiency for Various Designs of Biomarker-Directed Clinical Trials