Abstract
BackgroundIndia recently launched the largest universal health coverage scheme in the world to address the gaps in providing healthcare to its population. Health technology assessment (HTA) has been recognised as a tool for setting priorities as the government seeks to increase public health expenditure. This study aims to understand the current situation for healthcare decision-making in India and deliberate on the opportunities for introducing HTA in the country.MethodsA paper-based questionnaire, adapted from a survey developed by the International Decision Support Initiative (iDSI), was administered on the second day of the Topic Selection Workshop that was conducted as part of the HTA Awareness Raising Workshop held in New Delhi on 25–27 July, 2016. Participants were invited to respond to questions covering the need, demand and supply for HTA in their context as well as the role of their organisation vis-à-vis HTA. The response rate for the survey was about 68% with 41 participants having completed the survey.ResultsThree quarters of the respondents (71%) stated that the government allocated healthcare resources on the basis of expert opinion. Most respondents indicated reimbursement of individual health technologies and designing a basic health benefit package (93% each) were important health policy areas while medical devices and screening programmes were cited as important technologies (98% and 92%, respectively). More than half of the respondents noted that relevant local data was either not available or was limited. Finally, technical capacity was seen as a strength and a constraint facing organisations.ConclusionThe findings from this study shed light on the current situation, the opportunities, including potential topics, and challenges in conducting HTA in India. There are limitations to the study and further studies may need to be conducted to inform the role that HTA will play in the design or implementation of universal health coverage in India.
Highlights
India recently launched the largest universal health coverage scheme in the world to address the gaps in providing healthcare to its population
In an effort to advance evidence-based decisionmaking for healthcare, the Planning Commission placed the mandate for health technology assessment (HTA) under the Department of Health Research (DHR) in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India [10]
The growing acceptance of Health technology assessment (HTA) in health policy was signalled in the recent National Health Policy, which committed to developing an institutional framework to support its adoption [4]
Summary
The High-Level Expert Group called for increasing government spending on healthcare as well as the development of a national health package offering essential services [9]. In an effort to advance evidence-based decisionmaking for healthcare, the Planning Commission placed the mandate for health technology assessment (HTA) under the Department of Health Research (DHR) in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India [10]. A Medical Technology Assessment Board was to be set up [11] and, over the last couple years, the DHR has developed a structure to introduce HTA in making resource allocations at the national level, coordinated by the HTA India Secretariat or, HTAIn [12, 13]. The growing acceptance of HTA in health policy was signalled in the recent National Health Policy, which committed to developing an institutional framework to support its adoption [4]
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