GÖG-Colloquium | Health Economic Thresholds and Reimbursement Decisions for Medicines

How should health systems decide whether the benefits of new medicines are worth the costs? Health economic thresholds are increasingly used to guide reimbursement decisions, yet the basis for these thresholds and their real-world consequences remain the subject of intense debate. This GÖG-Colloquium brings together researchers and policymakers to explore the methodological foundations and policy implications of threshold-based decision-making for pharmaceuticals.
The colloquium will open with a presentation by Christoph Strohmaier (AIHTA), who will outline the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of thresholds in economic evaluation, drawing on recent findings from an AIHTA report. Dr. James Lomas (University of York) will then discuss how opportunity costs have informed threshold estimation in the English NHS, focusing on NICE and broader resource allocation mechanisms. Dr. Huseyin Naci (LSE) will present new evidence on the population-health consequences of NICE’s reimbursement decisions, based on a recent Lancet study. 
The session will close with a moderated discussion and Q&A, exploring how other countries—including Austria—might learn from the English experience in applying thresholds to support fair and effective decision-making in health care.

The Presenters

Christoph Strohmaier has been working for the Austrian Institute for Health Technology Assessment (AIHTA) since December 2018. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Vienna and further pursued a master’s degree in applied economics at the same institution, specialising in political economy and quantitative methods. Additionally, he serves as a scientific advisor to the Austrian Dementia Quality Registry (öDQR) at the Austrian National Public Health Institute. He is a member of the working group for quality registries in Austria under the Supreme Medical Council.
His research expertise spans health economics, health services and health systems research, registry science, and evidence synthesis, with a particular focus on public health, cancer, and high-tech medicine. Through his work, he contributes to advancing knowledge and improving outcomes in these critical areas.

Dr. James Lomas is a Senior Lecturer at the University of York, at the Department of Economics and Related Studies, where he specialises in empirical analysis to inform policy questions around the value of public spending. His work focuses on economic evaluation for health technology assessment. Lomas has advised or collaborated with government depart-ments, academic colleagues across the world and non-profit organisations contributing to the research foundation for cost-effectiveness thresholds.
Prior to joining the Department of Economics and Related Studies, Lomas was a research fellow at the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York. His research has informed a range of levels from local decision-making in England to decisions concerning global health by international organisations. He a Royal Economic Society Junior Fellowship in 2013 and his research on healthcare cost regressions was awarded the Willard G. Manning Memorial Award for the Best Research in Health Econometrics by the American Society of Health Economists.

Dr. Huseyin Naci is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom. He is the Director of the Pharmaceutical Policy Lab and serves as one of the Deputy Directors of LSE Health.
Huseyin’s research evaluates the quantity and quality of the evidence base underpinning the approval, adoption, reimbursement, and use of new pharmaceutical products in Europe and the United States. His research has appeared in leading medical and health policy journals, including JAMA, The Lancet, The BMJ, Health Affairs, and The Milbank Quarterly. 

Welcoming and moderation
Maximilian Salcher-Konrad 
Austrian National Public Health Institute | Gesundheit Österreich GmbH
Department of Pharmaeconomics

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