PNS259 NATIONAL HTA IMPLEMENTATION IN MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES, THE CASE OF JORDAN

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Health technology assessment (HTA) can increase the appropriateness and transparency of pricing and reimbursement decisions. However, Jordan is still in the early phase of its HTA implementation, although the country has very limited public resources for the coverage of health care technologies. To explore and validate priorities in HTA roadmap for Jordan and propose a draft action plan to achieve the preferred future HTA status. Health policy experts from the public and private sector were asked to fill in an international scorecard to explore the current and future status of HTA implementation in Jordan. Semi-structured interviews with senior policy-makers supported by literature review were conducted to validate survey results and set up a draft action plan. Key results were derived from 22 valid survey responses and interviews with 8 policy-makers. Survey and interview results confirmed the need for 1) increased HTA training, including shorts courses and academic programs; 2) gradually increasing public funding for HTA; 3) establishment of multiple HTA bodies with central coordination; 4) extending the scope of HTA to non-pharmaceutical technologies; 5) strengthening cost-effectiveness criterion with explicit thresholds; 6) improvement in HTA quality and transparency with methodological guidelines and published HTA reports and recommendations; 7) increased utilization of local data; 8) participation in international joint HTA work. Currently, HTA has limited impact on health policy decisions in Jordan, and when it is used to support pharmaceutical reimbursement decisions, it is mainly based on results from other countries without considering transferability of international evidence. Policymakers should facilitate HTA institutionalization and use in policy decisions by increasing the weight of local evidence in HTA recommendations.