029 - The role of Economic Competencies in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) process
Autor(s): M.E. Maccarini
Issue: RIMeL - IJLaM, Vol. 3, N. 3-S1, 2007 (MAF Servizi srl ed.)
Page(s): 29-33
Background. Economy considers as the real “aim” of health care systems and organizations the generation of value for the patients. The assessment of any new technology that is introduced in a Hospital setting should be based on a capital budgeting approach, by computing the Net Present Value (NPV). Methods. Among the several methods that Health Technology Assessment (HTA) should use and integrate, a special role should be given to the economic assessment. In Italy, the lack of a HTA national agency has lead to a “bottom-up” approach, characterised by the creation of Hospital Based Health Technology Assessment (HB-HTA) departments. However, it is crucial that HTA departments have a multidisciplinary and multiprofessional approach, including economic and financial competence. Results and Conclusions. Ideally, the creation of HTA departments should be based on a multidisciplinary approach. It’s advisable that economists working in hospital-based HTA departments implement evaluation methods that are inspired to a NPV-based capital budgeting approach