PharmD AND HTA

RECONSTRUCTING THE PharmD CURRICULUM

Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy occupy a critical position in the future of health technology
assessment because they educate the next generation of practitioners, researchers and decision
makers. PharmD students are introduced to pharmacoeconomics, outcomes research, utilities,
QALYs, simulation modelling and cost-effectiveness analysis as the accepted foundations of
therapy assessment. What is taught in these programs ultimately shapes the future direction of
HTA.

Interrogations of pharmacy-related HTA knowledge bases reveal the same pattern of
measurement inversion found throughout the wider HTA community. Concepts such as
representational measurement, dimensional homogeneity, measurement before arithmetic, the
distinction between manifest and latent attributes, and Rasch measurement are largely absent.
Students learn how to construct and interpret increasingly sophisticated numerical claims without
first being taught the measurement principles necessary to determine whether those claims
possess quantitative meaning.

The findings are remarkably consistent. Across all programs examined, the foundational
requirements for lawful quantitative claims are not embedded within the analytical frameworks
being taught. Unidimensionality, admissible ratio measures and the requirement that
measurement must precede arithmetic receive little attention, while composite indices, utilities
and simulation outputs are routinely treated as though they were valid measures of therapy
impact. This is not a matter of differences between institutions but a shared pattern that extends
across PharmD and associated graduate programs.

The challenge is therefore not simply curricular reform but curricular reconstruction. The
existing framework must be replaced by one capable of supporting lawful quantitative claims,
empirical evaluation and scientific progress. This requires a return to first principles:
measurement before arithmetic, explicit attribute claims and falsifiable propositions. The
reconstruction program presented here provides a practical pathway forward, founded on two
lawful measurement structures: linear ratio measures for manifest attributes and Rasch logit ratio
measures for latent attributes. Together they provide the basis for protocol-driven claims,
replication, falsification and a new HTA consistent with the standards of normal science and the
continuing evolution of objective knowledge.

Interrogation results are given for 71 pharmacy colleges and schools in the US who provide
PharmD HTA program. Colleges and Schools are listed by state with links directly from the
listing below

REFERENCES

UNITED STATES: THE INVISIBILITY OF RASCH MEASUREMENT IN PharmD
PROGRAMS

https://maimonresearch.com/logit-working-paper-no-334-may-2026/

UNITED STATES: PHARMACY COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS – MEASUREMENT
INVERSION AND ARITHMETIC CHAOS IN HTA PROGRAMS

https://maimonresearch.com/logit-working-paper-no-337-june-2026/

Delaware

This entry does not represent a distinct college-level knowledge base, as the program operates as a satellite or extension of its parent institution in a neighboring state. Accordingly, academic oversight, curriculum design, and the relevant HTA-related content are governed centrally by the main campus, and no independent assessment is warranted.