Health economics and outcomes research has moved from a niche discipline to a central pillar of pharmaceutical market access strategy. As health technology assessment bodies in Europe, Canada, and increasingly the United States apply more rigorous cost-effectiveness standards to reimbursement decisions, the demand for high-quality HEOR evidence packages has grown substantially. The global HEOR services market was valued at $4.2 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow at 11% annually through 2030, according to market research from IQVIA.
Inside that growth is a workforce challenge. HEOR professionals — health economists, epidemiologists, outcomes researchers, and biostatisticians — are expensive to hire and hard to retain. Using their time on project coordination, client communication logistics, and reporting administration rather than analytical work represents a significant efficiency loss. ISPOR's 2025 HEOR Workforce Survey found that 27% of HEOR professional time at consulting firms is spent on administrative tasks.
Virtual assistants are providing a practical solution.
Project Administration and Timeline Management
A typical HEOR engagement involves a complex project plan with multiple workstreams — systematic literature review, economic model development, clinical data analysis, and deliverable preparation — running in parallel across different team members. Keeping that project plan current, tracking milestone completion, and maintaining client communication on schedule is a full-time coordination job that usually falls to whoever has the most capacity at any given moment.
Virtual assistants can own the project management layer: maintaining project plans in tools like Smartsheet or Asana, sending weekly progress summary emails to clients, tracking internal deliverable reviews against client deadlines, coordinating availability for internal and client calls, and preparing meeting agendas and distributing minutes. This gives project leaders real-time visibility into project status without having to manually compile it.
For HEOR firms running 10 to 30 concurrent client engagements, centralizing project coordination across a VA team creates consistency and reduces the dropped balls that erode client confidence.
Systematic Literature Review Coordination
Systematic literature reviews are a foundational component of HEOR evidence packages. They involve defined search strings, structured screening processes, data extraction protocols, and PRISMA-compliant reporting. While the scientific judgment in SLRs must come from qualified researchers, significant administrative work surrounds every SLR engagement.
Virtual assistants can manage the logistical components: setting up and executing database searches in PubMed, Embase, and CENTRAL under researcher-defined protocols, organizing search results in citation management software like EndNote or Covidence, deduplicating citation libraries, formatting PRISMA flow diagrams and search documentation tables, and tracking second-reviewer screening assignments. These tasks can consume 30 to 50 hours per SLR project — time that is better spent by researchers on eligibility decisions and data interpretation.
Client Deliverable Formatting and Submission Logistics
HEOR deliverables — technical reports, budget impact models, HTA submission dossiers, and congress abstracts — require professional formatting, version control, and logistics management before they reach clients or health authorities. This formatting and logistics layer is time-consuming and highly delegable.
Virtual assistants can manage deliverable production workflows: applying brand templates to technical reports, formatting reference lists to journal or HTA body style guides, managing version tracking on deliverable drafts, coordinating review comment compilation from multiple internal reviewers, and preparing submission packages for dossier submissions to agencies such as NICE, IQWiG, or ICER. Having a VA own this workflow ensures that deliverables are consistently polished and submitted on time.
Business Development and Proposal Support
Winning new client engagements requires a continuous business development effort that many HEOR firms manage reactively. Virtual assistants can provide proactive support: maintaining a CRM with current client and prospect contact information, drafting proposal sections from standard firm capabilities language, coordinating proposal review schedules, preparing conference attendance logistics for networking events, and tracking follow-up commitments after client conversations.
This business development support infrastructure is especially valuable for boutique HEOR firms where partners are simultaneously leading client work and managing new business — a dual responsibility that frequently results in dropped business development activities during busy project periods.
For HEOR firms looking to expand capacity, reduce administrative burden on their research teams, and improve client deliverable consistency, Stealth Agents offers virtual assistants experienced in outcomes research administrative workflows.
Sources
- IQVIA, HEOR Services Market Outlook, 2025
- ISPOR, HEOR Workforce Survey, 2025
- NICE, HTA Submission Guidance and Dossier Requirements, 2024
- ICER, Evidence Assessment Process Overview, 2025