HTA Implementation in Latin American Countries: Comparison of Current and Preferred Status

Objectives: To provide an overview about the current status of health technology assessment (HTA) implementation in Latin American countries and to identify long-term objectives considering regional commonalities.

Methods: We conducted a survey among participants of the 5th Latin American Future Trends Conference in October 2015. Thirty-seven respondents from eight Latin American countries provided insights about the current and preferred future status of HTA implementation related to human capacity building, HTA financing, process and organizational structure for HTA, scope of mandatory HTA, decision criteria, standardization of HTA methodology, mandating the use of local data, and international collaboration in HTA.

Results: Survey respondents reported insufficient human resources and public investment for HTA implementation. Organizational structure and legislation framework of HTA differ considerably across countries. According to survey respondents, in the future policymakers should rely more on the assessment of therapeutic value, cost-effectiveness, and budget impact criteria by applying explicit thresholds, potentially in a multicriteria decision analysis framework. HTA should not be restricted to policy decisions of new technologies but it should also be used for the revision of previous decisions. In addition, the quality and transparency of HTA have to be strengthened.

Conclusions: HTA plays an increasingly important role in Latin American countries. Each country needs to record its current implementation status and identify components for improvement. Duplication of efforts can be reduced if international collaboration is integrated into national HTA implementation.