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Evidence Review and Synthesis

Rapid Evidence Reviews for Market Access

Plan, commission and evaluate rapid evidence reviews that support timely market access

The Course Course Content Next Session

About the course

Rapid evidence reviews are the workhorses of market access – providing accelerated, evidence-based insights in response to urgent, time-sensitive demands.

When a value dossier needs assembling, a clinical evaluation report requires updating or a tender response demands supporting evidence, there is rarely time or budget for a full systematic review — yet the evidence still needs to be identified, appraised and synthesised in a way that is credible and defensible. Scoping reviews, rapid evidence assessments and targeted literature reviews fill this gap, and the professionals who can plan, commission and critically evaluate these outputs hold a decisive advantage in fast-moving reimbursement and procurement environments. With AI-powered tools now accelerating key stages of the review process, the landscape is shifting further — and understanding what these tools can and cannot do is becoming as important as understanding the methodology itself.

This course provides a practical, focused introduction to rapid evidence review methodologies as they are used in real-life market access and policy-making settings. Over six modules participants move from framing the right review question through search strategy, study selection, data extraction, synthesis and presentation of findings — with a consistent emphasis on the trade-offs between speed and rigour that define this field. The course closes by equipping participants to commission and evaluate reviews with confidence and integrate findings into the submissions and dossiers that drive reimbursement and procurement decisions.

Delivered via IHLM’s online learning platform and through live interactive virtual tutorials you will become part of a global community learning how to synthesis evidence as quickly and efficiently as possible.

What you’ll learn

On completion of this course you’ll be able to:

  • distinguish between rapid review methodologies and select the approach best suited to a given market access decision and timeline
  • frame a focused review question using structured frameworks and translate it into a proportionate protocol with clear inclusion and exclusion criteria
  • critically appraise a completed rapid review, identifying methodological shortcuts that are defensible and those that undermine the findings
  • write an effective brief for a consultant or CRO that specifies the question, scope, deliverables and quality expectations
  • integrate rapid review findings into value dossiers, clinical evaluation reports, gap analyses and HTA submissions

How you’ll learn

This course is broken down into six manageable weekly modules:

  • work at your own speed through a carefully curated collection of self-paced online learning materials that include video lectures, podcasts, interviews and real-world case studies
  • evidence-based research from peer-reviewed publications will help you dig more deeply into topics that really interest you
  • you are not alone – you will interact with other course members, collaborate on learning activities and get direct feedback and coaching from the course leader during weekly virtual tutorials
  • earn professional certification by completing weekly learning activities and mini-projects

This course should take approximately 4 – 6 hours per week.  You can expect to devote about 1 – 2 hours per week to self-paced learning, 1 – 2 hours per week preparing for and participating in the webinar and 1 – 2 hours per week applying your knowledge through learning activities and mini-projects.  Every webinar is recorded so you can rewatch it at any time.

Who should take this course?

This course is designed for market access professionals, medical affairs specialists and HEOR managers working in the pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics industries who need to commission, oversee or critically appraise rapid evidence reviews. It is equally relevant for health service procurement and commissioning professionals who evaluate evidence and for consultants entering the HEOR field who want a structured grounding in rapid review methodology. No prior experience of evidence synthesis is required.

About the certificates

Upon successful completion of the course you’ll receive an:

  • IHLM Certificate of CPD Completion – This may be useful for course members who belong to professional bodies that have Continuing Professional Development requirements.  The course has an estimated 60 hours of guided learning.
  • IHLM Professional Certificate in Rapid Evidence Review – This is evidence of the competencies and capabilities you’ve developed during the course. The award of a professional certificate requires completion of learning activities and mini-projects during each module.

How to register

Ready to start?  Just click the ‘Register now’ button at the top of this page or use the ‘Ask us a question’ button if you’d like to talk to one of our course facilitators.  The fee for this course is £745 per person.  If you’d like to pay in instalments you can arrange this by contacting us at: [email protected].

All registrations are subject to our terms and conditions which are available here. By registering for an IHLM course you are accepting these terms and conditions and agreeing to be bound by them.

 

 

 

Module 1: When Speed Matters — The Role of Rapid Reviews in Market Access

Market access timelines rarely accommodate a full systematic review. This module introduces the family of rapid review methodologies — scoping reviews, rapid evidence assessments and targeted literature reviews — and explains where each sits on the spectrum between a quick literature scan and a formal systematic review.

  • the decisions that rapid reviews support — value dossiers, clinical evaluation reports, formulary submissions, tender responses and early engagement of health technology assessment (HTA) bodies
  • how rapid reviews differ from systematic reviews in scope, search strategy, quality assurance and time-to-completion
  • when a rapid review is sufficient and when it is not — understanding the trade-offs between speed and rigour
  • the regulatory and HTA landscape for medical devices and diagnostics, where evidence bases are often thinner and rapid synthesis is the practical norm

Module 2: Defining the Question — Scope, Framework and Protocol

A rapid review that begins without a clearly defined question will either answer the wrong question or take far longer than it should. This module covers the structured approaches used to frame a review question and translate it into a workable protocol that keeps the review focused and efficient.

  • PICO and its variants (PICOS, PEO, PCC) — selecting the right framework for the question at hand and using it to define inclusion and exclusion criteria
  • writing a rapid review protocol — what to include, how much detail is proportionate and why even a light-touch protocol protects against scope creep
  • aligning the review question with the end user’s decision — working backwards from the submission, dossier or committee meeting to define what evidence is actually needed
  • common pitfalls in question framing — questions that are too broad to answer quickly or too narrow to yield useful results

Module 3: Searching the Literature — Strategies, Sources and Shortcuts

The search strategy is where a rapid review makes its most consequential trade-offs. This module covers how to design a search that is thorough enough to be credible yet focused enough to be completed within a constrained timeline and budget.

  • database selection and prioritisation — which sources to search (and which to skip) depending on the review question, the therapy area and the available time
  • building a pragmatic search strategy — balancing sensitivity and precision, adapting systematic review search principles for speed and using validated search filters
  • grey literature and supplementary searching — hand-searching, citation chaining, clinical trial registries and manufacturer submissions as efficient routes to evidence that databases miss
  • AI-assisted screening and deduplication — how tools such as Rayyan and ASReview are reducing the manual burden of title and abstract screening and what their limitations are in practice

Module 4: Selection, Extraction and Quality Appraisal

With search results in hand, the reviewer must decide what to include, capture the relevant data and assess the quality of the underlying studies — all at a pace that a systematic review would not demand. This module covers the methods and shortcuts used to do this reliably without sacrificing credibility.

  • study selection under time pressure — single versus dual screening, pre-specified decision rules and when deviation from systematic review norms is defensible
  • data extraction for rapid reviews — designing extraction templates that capture only what the end-user needs and avoiding the trap of extracting everything available
  • critical appraisal tools and when to use them — ROBINS-I, RoB 2, QUADAS-2 and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale applied proportionately to the review’s purpose
  • AI-assisted data extraction — emerging tools that automate or semi-automate extraction from full-text papers and how to verify their outputs

Module 5: Synthesis and Presentation of Findings

A rapid review that presents its findings poorly wastes the speed it gained. This module covers how to synthesise evidence narratively, present results in formats that decision-makers can act on and handle the inevitable gaps and inconsistencies in a thin evidence base.

  • narrative synthesis — structuring findings thematically or by outcome rather than study-by-study, and presenting the weight of evidence clearly without overstating certainty
  • evidence tables, forest-plot-style summaries and harvest plots — visual tools for presenting heterogeneous evidence to non-technical audiences
  • handling sparse or conflicting evidence — how to communicate uncertainty honestly while still providing actionable conclusions for market access teams
  • tailoring outputs to the audience — what an health service procurement committee needs to see versus what an HTA agency expects versus what a clinical evaluation report requires

Module 6: Commissioning, Managing and Using Rapid Reviews

The final module shifts perspective from methodology to management — how to brief a consultant or CRO, evaluate deliverables and use review findings strategically within market access and reimbursement workflows.

  • writing an effective brief — specifying the question, timeline, budget, deliverable format and quality expectations so that the review you receive is the review you need
  • evaluating a completed rapid review — what to look for, what questions to ask and the red flags that indicate corners have been cut inappropriately
  • from review to action — integrating rapid review findings into value dossiers, gap analyses, clinical evaluation reports and HTA submissions
  • when to escalate — recognising the point at which a rapid review’s limitations mean a full systematic review or original study is required and making the case internally

 

Course Leader

Benedict Stanberry

Course Factfile

  • Next session: 4 September
  • Duration: 6 weeks
  • Commitment: 6-8 hours a week
  • Qualification: Certificate
  • Cost: £745
  • Location: Online

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