Session (CTI)

Purpose As the Asia-Pacific region faces rapid population aging and a rising chronic disease burden, traditional HTA perspectives that focus solely on direct medical costs are increasingly at odds with broader government goals. While jurisdictions like China and Thailand have adopted societal perspectives, others like South Korea have recently regressed due to perceived complexity. Others like Canada and New Zealand are progressing with trials of the societal perspective. This panel will debate the moral, economic, and practical imperatives for adopting a broader value framework. Description • The "Job Remit" vs. Cabinet Goals: Should HTA agencies ignore societal costs simply because they fall outside the health budget, even when Finance Ministries (e.g., NZ/UK Treasury) mandate a societal view for budget bids and recommend departments use this approach? • Is there evidence that failure to adopt a societal perspective leads to sub optimal allocative efficiency? • Are there problems associated with ethics when adopting a societal perspective? • The BRAVER Roadmap: How can APAC jurisdictions use a stepwise approach to incorporate priority elements like equity and caregiver HRQoL spillovers? Panelist Perspectives: • The Industry Advocate Carsten Schousboe (Roche): Arguing that failing to count indirect costs results in "systemic underbidding" for resources and suboptimal patient access and that many of the arguments against adoption don’t stand up to scrutiny. • The Patient Representative Dr Malcolm Mulhollad MNZM (Massey University): Highlighting and the necessity of recognizing the burden on family units and incomes. • The Academic Theorist Prof Lotte Steuten (Office of Health Economics): Highlighting the foundational welfare economic theory as a reason as well as Public finance theory rationales. Charting a road map using BRAVER.