Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Group

Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research Unit (PHORU) is a research group with a primary focus on the health technology assessment (HTA) and outcomes research of drug treatments and other healthcare methods, as well as policy measures, and on the assessment of their effectiveness (e.g., from the perspectives of health-related quality of life, healthcare costs, and functional and work capacity). In addition, the research group develops data-driven methods needed in these evaluations. The research utilizes a wide range of different data, such as electronic patient, registry, and omics data.

Currently, there are projects underway that investigate:

• The risk prediction of cardiometabolic and memory diseases, the effectiveness of their prevention and treatment, and the health economic consequences.
• The methods needed in outcomes-based benchmarking of healthcare service providers and their implementation into practice.
• The methods needed in the assessment of Productivity Adjusted Life Years (PALYs) in collaboration with Monash University (Australia).
• The effectiveness of occupational health care.
• The effectiveness (“positive health effects”) and cost-consequences of digital applications and artificial intelligence solutions in healthcare.

The research group collaborates with several different research groups at the University of Eastern Finland and with other national and international universities and research organizations, as well as wellbeing services counties of Finland. The central goal of the research is to produce effectiveness and outcomes information and develop the national healthcare system towards an outcomes-based healthcare system.