OBJECTIVES: In Poland, the Minister of Heath (MoH) takes into account 13 criteria for reimbursement. Most of those criteria are related to HTA. The first criterion is Economic Commission Statement, and the second is a Recommendation of the President of Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariff System (AHTAPol). The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between recommendations of AHTAPol’s President (RAP) and MoH reimbursement decisions (MoHD). Additionally, we evaluated HTA consulting companies on the outcomes of their dossiers.

METHODS: An analysis was performed for innovative drugs applications in the period of 2015-2016. The proportion of positive and negative decisions of RAP and MoH, and the association between RAP and MoHD using Cramér's V coefficient was measured. An analysis was conducted of the reimbursement decisions for dossiers submitted per HTA company. In order to be included in the analysis, a company needed to have at least 10 applications evaluated in the specified time period.

RESULTS: In the period analysed, 56% of applications received positive RPA and 49% received positive MoHD on reimbursement. 15% of applications, despite negative RAP, received positive MoHD. On the other hand, 23% of drugs with positive RAP were not reimbursed. Cramér's V between RAP and MoHD amounted to 0.24 (value of 1 indicates full compliance). Dossiers prepared by INAR had the highest percentage (65%) of positive MoHD out of all submitted, and the highest number (20) of positive MoHD. Other companies were also analysed. Impact of Economic Commission Statements could not be analysed because of a lack of transparency.

CONCLUSIONS: Analyses showed that there is a weak association between MoHD and RPA when measured by Cramer’s V. Results suggest that HTA company experience could have an impact on final MoHD, but further analysis should be taken.