Glynis S. Ewing discusses her poster, “Alright Ladies, Buckle Up: The Effects of Seating Position, Gender, and Other Factors on Seat Belt Usage Rates and Data-Driven Policy Solutions.”

More than 350 statisticians, methodologists, and health policy experts gathered January 10–12, 2018, at the Marriott Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, for the 12th International Conference on Health Policy Statistics (ICHPS). This was a record-breaking year in terms of number of conference abstracts and attendance.

ICHPS is held every two years, jointly sponsored by the ASA and Health Policy Statistics Section (HPSS). Conference co-chairs Laura Lee Johnson (US Food and Drug Administration) and Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar (RAND Corporation) were supported by a 30-member organizing committee, including two student representatives and past conference chairs.

The theme—Health <-> Statistical Science <-> Care, Policy, Outcomes—reflected the interactive relationship between health services and outcomes research and innovative statistical methodology to facilitate informed discussions regarding health reform and other efforts to improve health care in the United States.

From left: Conference co-chair, Laura Lee Johnson, gets together with Arlene Ash, Sally Morton, and Kelly Zou during the International Conference on Health Policy Statistics.

ICHPS 2018 was supported by grant number R13HS025884 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) through a Eugene Washington Engagement Award. Project officers took an active role, challenging attendees to find effective mechanisms for disseminating results so they translate into actual policy and practice.

Presentations and posters covered a range of topics, including fraud detection methods, causal inference and treatment heterogeneity, real-world evidence, pragmatic clinical trials, and comparative effectiveness. The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science conducted a workshop using improvisational theater techniques developed to help people speak more vividly and expressively. Wednesday included a career panel and networking lunch for students. Thursday afternoon included town halls and roundtable discussions to allow for idea sharing and informal networking. Town halls were on global real-world data, the VA, engaging with community partners, Medicaid payment reform, and health care delivery system transformation.

Networking dinners and meet-ups afforded opportunities to mingle in a relaxed environment while enjoying Charleston’s hospitality and delicious food during the local restaurant week.

Workshops included sequences on causal inference, complex survey analysis, and patient-reported outcomes, plus workshops on social network analysis and an introduction to several data sets from the US government, including the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and Medicare Beneficiary Survey.

Rousing addresses were delivered by Robert Califf, “Evidence Generation in the Era of Ubiquitous Information,” and Suchi Saria, “A Methodologist’s Quest to Improve Health Care.” Each offered advice on opportunities to redesign the health care delivery system in an evidence-driven way with incentives. Both emphasized high-risk, interdisciplinary problems of real interest requiring scalable interventions.

Conference proceedings will be published in Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology.

HPSS presented its Long-Term Excellence Award to Sally C. Morton (Virginia Tech University) and Paul Rosenbaum (University of Pennsylvania). Anirban Basu (University of Washington) received the Mid-Career Award.

ICHPS also provided 21 student travel awards, supported by grants, the ASA’s Biopharmaceutical Section, and the ASA’s Mental Health Statistics Section. Conference activities were supported by grants, awards, and multiple industry and institutional partners, including AbbVie, Amplexor, Pfizer, and Research Triangle Institute (RTI).

ICHPS2020 is planned for January 6–8 in San Diego, California. For more information, contact conference chairs, Kate Crespi and Ofer Harel.