Building Capacity for HTA in the Philippines: An Imperative UNDER UHC
Author(s)
Panelo CI1, Guerrero M2, Genuino AJ2, Moreno A3, Nachura S3, Tan C3
1USAID's ProtectHealth/Palladium, Manila, Philippines, 2Department of Health, Quezon City, Philippines, 3USAID's ProtectHealth/Palladium, Mandaluyong, Philippines
Philippine universal health coverage (UHC) legislation has mandated the creation of a Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) to review all benefits, in addition to new technologies. A positive recommendation is required for specific technologies to be adopted and paid for by government funds. A key challenge to implementing HTA in the country is the limited capacity to undertake HTA and review assessments at scale. Apart from medicines and vaccines, devices and procedures will now also have to be reviewed. This multiplies the review workload of the old National Formulary Committee several times over. OBJECTIVES. The challenge is for the Philippines to build a critical mass for HTA among the academic and research institutions in the country. METHODS. Building this capacity will require short term investments like grants to specific institutions to undertake specific HTA studies for and in behalf of the Council. Long term investments will involve identifying and supporting a cohort of junior staff within government and among faculty and researchers in the academe to be trained on HTA. RESULTS. Government is investing in the capacity building of the HTAC, its secretariat and the research and academic community that will undertake the assessments. CONCLUSIONS.Building this capacity has to be done in the next 3 years with the HTAC being transferred to the Department of Science and Technology. This is to ensure independence and insulate the HTA process from political influence. Other countries in a similar stage of developing their HTA systems may want to consider similar capacity building investments.
Conference/Value in Health Info
2020-09, ISPOR Asia Pacific 2020, Seoul, South Korea
Value in Health Regional, Volume 22S (September 2020)
Code
PNS49
Topic
Health Policy & Regulatory, Health Technology Assessment, Organizational Practices
Topic Subcategory
Academic & Educational, Insurance Systems & National Health Care, Reimbursement & Access Policy, Systems & Structure
Disease
Multiple Diseases, No Specific Disease