OBJECTIVES: Resource allocation is one of the most challenging issues faced by health policy decision-makers requiring efficient consideration of many factors. Objectives of this study are to identify criteria used in decisionmaking around the world. METHODS: An extensive literature search was performed in Medline and EMBASE to identify articles reporting decision criteria. Bibliographies of relevant articles were also searched. Studies conducted with healthcare decisionmakers (e.g., empirical studies, field-testing of decisionmaking tools, focus groups, questionnaires, interviews), conceptual and reviews articles as well as articles describing decisionmaking tools were included. Criteria reported were extracted and organized using a classification system derived from the EVIDEM framework. RESULTS: A total of 2903 records were identified through database searching and 243 additional records were identified through bibliographic hand searching; of these 2790 were excluded. 356 articles were assessed for eligibility and 40 articles were included in the study. Large variations in terminology used to defined criteria were observed and 338 different terms were identified. These were assigned to 58 unique criteria which were classified in 9 different categories including: 1) health outcomes and benefits of intervention, 2) types of health benefit, 3) impact of disease targeted by intervention, 4) therapeutic context of intervention, 5) economic impact of intervention, 6) quality/uncertainty of evidence, 7) implementation complexity of intervention, 8) priority, fairness and ethics, 9) overall context. The most frequently mentioned criteria were: equity/fairness (33 times), efficacy/effectiveness (28), healthcare stakeholder interests and pressures (28), cost-effectiveness (23), strength of evidence (20), safety (19), mission and mandate of health system (17), need (16), organizational requirements and capacity (17) and patient reported outcomes (16). CONCLUSIONS: The data synthesized in this study will serve as the basis for development of an international survey of healthcare decisionmakers. The ultimate objective is to develop multicriteria approaches to efficient healthcare decisionmaking and priority setting.