Help me help you: Role of hospital-based HTA

Session Synopsis

This session aims to discuss the potential role of hospital-based Health Technology Assessment (HTA), their pros and cons from different perspectives, and collaboration opportunities including innovations to support hospitals, a key stakeholder for universal health coverage (UHC). Hospitals play a crucial role in all health care systems. Similar to the importance of primary health care in UHC, hospitals provide critical care to those in need. Therefore, any support we can provide to hospitals would, both in the short- and long-term, support the health care system and our goal of achieving UHC. Hospitals, like national health authorities, need to make resource allocation decisions on health technology, intervention, and innovation.

Priority setting is an important process given that hospital expenditure remains one of (if not) the biggest cost driver in the health care system around the world. This high cost is partly due to factors such as high capital investment, and high cost technology and intervention, many of which may not always represent good value for money. This context represents an opportunity for improving efficiency and, in fact, there are organizations and groups with the goal to support the efficiency of hospital’s investment. Research has shown that when thinking about innovation in health care, hospitals are in the highest need for innovation. Innovations exist to support hospitals in various steps and processes.

HTA is an approach which can help generate evidence to inform decision-making process. Therefore, HTA support at the hospital level has vast potential for improving the health care system. HTA can also generate evidence to identify “good” and “bad” innovations to invest in. This session will include practical case studies on topics such as price negotiation, capital investment, and procurement for hospitals.

Session Outlines

Introduction (10 mins)

• Role of hospital in health care
• Role of HTA in health care
• Role of HTA in hospital
• A case study when HTA is needed in a hospital to support UHC

Hospital-based HTA: What’s in the name? (20 mins)

• Perspective on hospital-based HTA
• Pros and cons from a decision-maker’s perspective
• How they collaborate with a hospital-based HTA unit

How can we have one? (20 mins)

• Perspective on hospital-based HTA
• Challenges of conducting research and informing decisions, and lessons learned
• How the unit was set up, how the process works
• How to support hospital

Innovation to support evidence creation for hospitals (20 mins)

• Perspective on hospital-based HTA
• Pricing databases to support hospitals
• How they collaborate with a hospital-based HTA unit

Open discussion (20 mins)