Big Data approaches for health policy, comparative effectiveness research, and health data confidentiality are some of the subjects that topped the agenda during the 11th International Conference on Health Policy Statistics (ICHPS) October 7–9 in Providence, Rhode Island.

Student Social

(From left to right): Zihao Zhang (Brown University), Fan Li (Duke University and a Student Travel Award winner), Chenyang Gu (Brown University and a Student Travel Award winner), and Joanna Wang (University of Technology Sydney) socialized and networked after the Student Award ceremony and social entertainment event; Wang, a post-doctoral fellow, traveled all the way from Australia; the rest are graduate students in the US.

The Imposteriors

(From left to right): Brad Carlin, Mark Glickman, Jennifer Hill, Michael Jordan, and Donald Hedeker, who are band members of The Imposteriors.

Reunited

(From left to right): Mark Glickman, Sharon-Lise Normand, and A. James O’Malley reunited; Normand was Glickman and O’Malley’s post-doctoral advisor in the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School.

Student Traval Award Winner Hong-Zhao

Hong Zhao, one of the Student Travel Award winners presenting her poster.

ICHPS Co-Chairs and Keynote Speaker

(From left to right): Recai M. Yucel (ICHPS Co-Chair), Gail R. Wilensky (Keynote Speaker) and Kelly H. Zou (ICHPS Co-Chair) after Wilensky’s keynote presentation.

Under the overall theme “Statistical Science at the Forefront of Health Policy Research,” nearly 250 people from eight countries attended the conference, which was sponsored by the ASA Health Policy Statistics Section (HPSS) and co-chaired by Kelly H. Zou and Recai M. Yucel. The conference included workshops, paper and poster sessions, and keynote and plenary addresses. Among the health policy issues discussed were the following:

• Big Data approaches for health policy
• Comparative effectiveness research
• Health data confidentiality
• Improving medical decision-making in the era of personalized medicine
• Meta-analysis and evidence-based medicine
• Measurement, implementation, and interpretation of patient-reported outcomes
• Quality performance analyses
• Social network analysis
• Statistics and payment reform
• The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey

A conference highlight was an invited session on the advances in nonexperimental causal inference methods for patient-centered health services and health policy research, organized by Elizabeth Stuart, a member of the Advisory Panel on Clinical Trials of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

The Imposteriors perform with three guest musicians during the 11th International Conference on Health Policy Statistics (ICHPS) October 7–9 in Providence, Rhode Island. To view more photos of the conference, see the ICHPS 2015 scientific program gallery and the Imposteriors @ ICHPS 2015 gallery.

Additionally, three HPSS major achievement awards and student travel awards were presented. Constantine Gatsonis of Brown University and Donald Hedeker of The University of Chicago won HPSS Long-Term Excellence Awards, and Liz Stuart of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health won the HPSS Mid-Career Award. Fifteen students were honored with travel awards. Also, HPSS recognized nine members who became ASA fellows in 2014 or 2015.

Throughout the past 20 years, ICHPS has played a vital role in the dissemination of statistical methods in health policy and health services research. The conference has fostered a great tradition of linking methodologists with health policymakers to add focus and perspective to the development of new tools.

The co-chairs for the 12th ICHPS, which will be held in 2018, are Laura Lee Johnson and Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar. They may be reached at ICHPS2018@gmail.com.