Principal Analyst

The Agency for Care Effectiveness ACE was established by the Ministry of Health in August 2015 as the national health technology assessment HTA and clinical guidance agency, and as a division of the Healthcare Performance Group, to support providers, patients and payers in making better-informed decisions about patient care and to drive appropriate care as part of MOH's broader initiatives to manage healthcare costs.

ACE provides independent evidence-based evaluations of health technologies (e.g. drugs, vaccines, medical technologies, cell and gene therapies) to inform funding decisions and produces technology guidance on their appropriate use; and develops clinical guidance to inform healthcare professionals on specific areas of clinical practice. To improve patients' access to affordable treatments, ACE conducts value-based pricing negotiations with manufacturers to ensure prices of selected health technologies are commensurate with the value the technology provides based on proven clinical outcomes. Efforts to support subsidy implementation of health technologies evaluated by ACE and utilization review of the impact of subsidy decisions are also part of ACE's mandate.

ACE also develops and delivers educational materials and programmes for healthcare professionals and consumers to drive the practice and consumption of appropriate care. Overall, ACE supports three key stakeholders – payer, provider and patient/public – to assist them in making better and more informed decisions in healthcare.

Staff within the Drug and Vaccine Evaluation team support national clinical policy decision making through evidence-based assessments and produce national technology guidance to drive appropriate care.

As a Principal Analyst/Specialist/Senior Specialist in the Drug and Vaccine Evaluation team, you will be responsible for conducting HTA on new and existing drugs, and vaccines and precision medicine in Singapore by collating, analysing and synthesising qualitative and quantitative clinical and economic evidence to inform national subsidy decisions; developing guidance and educational materials informed by evidence-based decision-making to shape prescribing behaviour; working with stakeholders, including clinical experts, drug companies, and senior staff within public healthcare institutions and MOH to facilitate successful subsidy implementation of recommendations; and evaluating the clinical and cost impact of implementation of ACE guidance.

Job Responsibilities Technical evaluation

• Liaise with clinical experts and other stakeholders to better understand local clinical management of specific conditions
• Review pricing proposals and evidence submissions for subsidy consideration from drug companies
• Critically appraise published evidence on the clinical and cost effectiveness of drugs, vaccines and precision medicine and potential budget impact
• Assess the completeness of the evidence base, identifying gaps and highlighting important issues for discussion by relevant staff or Committee members
• Conduct systematic reviews, meta-analysis and economic evaluations (when required) to inform decision-making using standardised methods
• Prepare evaluation reports, guidance documents and other related products for internal and external dissemination
• Draft manuscripts for publication in select journals in collaboration with key clinical experts to increase visibility of ACE's technical evaluations

Planning & organisation

• Participate in and assist with the coordination of key internal meetings such as scoping workshops, committee meetings and meetings with senior management
• In conjunction with the Lead Specialist, ensure adequate operational technical capacity and resourcing for each project

Implementation & evaluation of impact

• Work with planning and policy team within ACE and other stakeholders within the public healthcare institutions, and other MOH departments to ensure successful implementation of guidance and subsidy
• Support efforts to evaluate the impact of drug guidance in terms of clinical outcomes, system impact, and costs
• Preparing and presenting structured summaries of evidence and specialist advice to ACE's committees to facilitate discussion on possible recommendations
• Maintain links with external academic, professional and clinical institutions to ensure current best practice
• Promote technical work of ACE internationally to increase the Agency's visibility as a centre for technical excellence in HTA
• Draft written responses to comments and queries received from stakeholders
• Develop educational collaterals and communication pieces which are relevant to stakeholders' needs
• Provide Secretariat support to MOH Drug Advisory Committee
• Share ACE's drug evaluation processes and methods and guidance documents with industry and clinical stakeholders through targeted workshops and meetings to outline engagement opportunities, encourage participation in ACE evaluations and address specific technical or implementation issues relating to ACE's work

Commissioning & quality assurance

• Provide quality assurance for externally commissioned projects as well as internal work conducted by other team members (peer-review)
• Ensure consistency across documents produced in terms of format, content and acceptable quality

Job Requirements

• Degree in healthcare or science field
• Post graduate qualifications in health economics, public health, precision medicine, statistics or epidemiology or equivalent level of knowledge acquired through research experience and further training/development
• At least 1–3 years of relevant experience in HTA for the Specialist role and 3–5 years of relevant experience in HTA for the Senior Specialist role
• Understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare, critical appraisal and the interpretation and synthesis of health care research evidence
• Understanding of methodology to conduct clinical and cost-effectiveness analyses of health technologies, and produce health technology assessment HTA reports
• Working knowledge of all of the following areas and specialist knowledge in at least one of the following: Health economics, Medical statistics, Clinical trials, Public health, Health policy, Systematic reviews
• Ability to gather data, analyse, critique and synthesise complex information and prepare guidance documents, policy papers and briefing documents
• Experience and familiarity with databases, such as PubMed/Medline, Embase and Cochrane, and grey literature
• Familiarity with conducting internet searches of various websites including regulatory and HTA agencies, and manufacturer webpages
• Ability to anticipate the system-wide impact of recommendations to subsidise particular treatments including the impact on other hospital units, patients, and the society as a whole is desirable
• Specialist knowledge of assessing the clinical and cost-effectiveness of precision medicine in HTA desirable
• Ability to write succinctly and translate complex technical information into plain English for different audiences
• A commitment to excellence in quality of research and outputs
• Ability to prioritise work efficiently and effectively to meet deadlines
• Effective and persuasive communicator demonstrating oral, written and presentation skills with a high degree of personal credibility and sensitivity
• Ability to establish effective working relationships with a range of professionals both within and outside MOH
• Ability to think and plan strategically and to exercise sound judgement in the face of conflicting pressures
• A general understanding of the local health system and the social, political, economic and technical context within which MOH operates is desirable
• Experience working within an academic, clinical or health services research environment and supporting a multidisciplinary team is desirable
• Ability to use standard Microsoft packages. Familiarity with specialist statistics and/or health economics software packages (TreeAge, Stata) desirable. For the Senior Specialist role, line management or mentoring experience of junior staff members desirable

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

Other information

• Seniority level: Mid-Senior level
• Employment type: Full-time
• Job function: Analyst, Project Management, and Health Care Provider
• Industries: Hospitals and Health Care

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