How can health technology assessment be improved to optimise access to medicines? Results from a Delphi study in Europe

Anna-Maria Fontrier, Bregtje W. Kamphuis and Panos Kanavos

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Introduction: Access to medicines is a shared goal across healthcare stakeholders. Since health technology assessment (HTA) informs funding decisions, it shapes access to medicines. Despite its wide implementation, significant access variations due to HTA are observed across Europe. This paper elicited the opinions of European stakeholders on how HTA can be improved to facilitate access. Methods: A scoping review identified HTA features that influence access to medicines within markets and areas for improvement, while three access dimensions were identified (availability, affordability, timeliness). Using the Delphi method, we elicited the opinions of European stakeholders to validate the literature findings. Results: Nineteen participants from 14 countries participated in the Delphi panel. Thirteen HTA features that could be improved to optimise access to medicines in Europe were identified. Of these, 11 recorded a positive impact on at least one of the three access dimensions. HTA features had mostly a positive impact on timeliness and a less clear impact on affordability. ‘Early scientific advice’ and ‘clarity in evidentiary requirements’ showed a positive impact on all access dimensions. 'Established ways to deal with uncertainty during HTA’ could improve medicines’ availability and timeliness, while more ‘reliance on real-world evidence’ could expedite time to market access. Conclusions: Our results reiterate that increased transparency during HTA and the decision-making processes is essential; the use of and reliance on new evidence generation such as real-world evidence can optimise the availability of medicines; and better collaborations between regulatory institutions within and between countries are paramount for better access to medicines.

Keywords: access; Delphi; Europe; health technology assessment; HTA; medicines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I00 I10 I11 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-11-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in European Journal of Health Economics, 2, November, 2023. ISSN: 1618-7598

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/120537/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:120537

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().