Why HEOR Now Outranks Clinical Efficacy

68% of respondents cite Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) as the evidence type with the greatest impact on payer adoption.

Boston MA -- October 13: Economic value is increasingly central to commercialization efforts, significantly outpacing traditional clinical trial outcomes in the eyes of commercial payers.

The Women's Health Infrastructure Report 2026 indicates that for many organizations, demonstrating economic impact is now just as important as demonstrating clinical effectiveness.

Stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem are demanding measurable evidence of value before making reimbursement and investment decisions. Clinical outcomes (22%), real-world evidence (8%), and provider utilization data (2%) all received comparatively lower scores, cementing HEOR as the definitive language of commercial adoption.

"Clinical development follows established clinical, scientific and regulatory conventions, whereas HEOR is far less defined and standardized. The need to plan for HEOR outcomes as early as possible, counter-intuitive as this may be to clinical researchers, is therefore compounded by the difficulty... of anticipating which outcomes and evidence payers will ultimately require."

Jacob Marx

CEO, Foravisét - Lead Research Partner

This finding represents just one of dozens of insights uncovered through the Women's Health Infrastructure Report 2026, a cross-sector study bringing together perspectives from health plans, providers, employers, clinicians, life sciences organisations and innovators.

The full report features detailed findings, expert commentary, benchmark data and practical implications for healthcare leaders looking to understand where women's health is heading next.

Lead Research Partner