GLOBAL JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 1 www.gjmedph.org Vol. 5, No. 2 2016 ISSN#- 2277-9604 An analysis of how health care providers, industry and patients influence health technology assessment around the world Devarshi Bhattacharyya * ABSTRACT To achieve the goal of improving the health of the population, all health systems need to take decisions on what interventions they need to provide and how to finance them. For making decisions in a scientific way, policy makers are increasingly looking into rigorous and methodical evidences. With the rapid proliferation of new technologies in health care, health care providers and policymakers want the most cost-effective and efficient technologies. On the other hand, the industry perspective is also important to drive this change. This article looks into the different aspects of health technology assessment (HTA) from the view points of the providers and the industry. Then, the perspective of the patients in the HTA process is also highlighted. The article describes the fact that there is divergence between research and policy making and all the different stakeholders in a HTA process need to come together to augment this process. Keywords: Health Technology, Assessment, HTA, Policy Formulation, Health Providers INTRODUCTION All health systems around the world have a common goal which is to improve the health and well-being of their populations. To achieve this target a health system initiates an array of activities, most prominently coming up with a framework to finance and deliver health services. This involves making decisions to try and make the most optimum use of scarce resources. 1 A lot of decisions are made on the interventions that are provided to the population and and how they should be offered so that one can maximise the health benefits with respect to the available resources. Those at the helm for making decisions require data about the possible options and the consequences of those interventions. With the proliferation of new technologies at a rapid pace, it is quite clear with closer scrutiny that some of the older interventions have no benefits compared to the resources spent. But the advent of technology in health care and its increased usage has also added to expanding costs of health care, and as such technology is sometimes considered as a “culprit” for the burgeoning costs. 2, 3 This awareness has been behind the concept of “evidence-based medicine” and “health technology assessment”, which contends that policymakers must use rigorous scientific research to make their decisions. 4, 5 WHAT IS HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT? World Health Organisation (WHO) 6 defines Health technology assessment (HTA) as “the systematic evaluation of properties, effects, and/or impacts of health technology. It is a multidisciplinary process to evaluate the social, economic, organizational and ethical issues of a health intervention or health technology. The main purpose of conducting an assessment is to inform a policy decision making.” The important message here is that it is a tool for policymakers to examine systematically the consequences in the short term and also in the long term of health care technologies. 7 The aim of HTA is to help decision makers for formulating health GJMEDPH 2016; Vol. 5, issue 2 *Corresponding Author: Devarshi Bhattacharyya University of Birmingham, UK devarshi.bhattacharyya@gmail.com Telephone Number: +447448854006 Conflict of Interest—none Funding—none