The Centre for Global Development blog post by Javier Guzman discusses how Health Technology Assessment (HTA) systems can benefit from the experience of regulatory systems.
The article argues that while the two have different goals (regulatory systems ensure safety and efficacy, while HTA focuses on cost-effectiveness), they share many similarities. Both require strong institutions and technical expertise, and both face challenges keeping up with new technologies. The author highlights three lessons HTA can learn from regulation:
Define and strengthen capacity: Regulatory systems have developed tools to measure and improve their capacity. HTA can benefit from similar methods to assess and strengthen its own systems.
Embrace regional collaboration: Regulatory bodies have found success in collaborating regionally to reduce redundancy and improve efficiency. HTA systems can learn from this approach by working together on assessments and sharing best practices.
Standardization and risk-based approaches: Regulatory systems have standardized processes and adopted risk-based approaches to focus on higher-risk products. HTA can benefit from developing standard methods and leveraging information from other countries to improve efficiency.
The article concludes by acknowledging that regulatory systems can also learn from HTA, but overall, there are valuable lessons that can be shared to improve the effectiveness of both systems.