In a commentary published by the American Journal of Managed Care on December 17, 2021, Ms. Stacy Courtnay highlights how lived experiences like hers can inform healthcare research. In “In Evaluating Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatments, Involving Patients is Key,” she also explores key findings from the joint IVI and Arthritis Foundation research paper released in November 2021. She says, “Over the past year, I have worked with the Arthritis Foundation, the Innovation and Value Initiative, and others living with RA to consider how our journeys could better inform health care research. Some may minimize using the lived experience of a debilitating health condition, such as RA, as too subjective or soft for serious health outcomes research, but personal experiences can help researchers ask the questions that matter most to patients and even increase access to the right treatments. Our newly released report, First Hand Experiences with Rheumatoid Arthritis shows how these experiences can shift the questions researchers ask in the first place.
