Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program

The Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program
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Overview of Organization
Type	Research
Field of Work	Health Technology Assessment
Founded	2007
Headquarters	6th Floor, 6th Building, Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health (Thailand), Tiwanon Rd., Muang, Nonthaburi 11000
Key Personnel	Yot Teerawattananon MD.PhD., Program Leader Sripen Tantivess PhD., Senior Researcher
Research Areas	Health Technology Assessment, Economic Evaluations, Health Policy Analysis, HTA Infrastructure Development
Funding Sources	Domestic Public Funding, International Donor Organizations
Website	hitap.net globalhitap.net

The Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP) is a semi-autonomous research unit under Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health. It was established in 2007 as a non-profit organization in order to take responsibility for appraising a wide range of health technologies and programs, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, interventions, individual and community health promotion, and disease prevention as well as social health policy to inform policy decisions in Thailand.

HTA in the Public Health System

In 1981, Thailand’s National List of Essential Medicines was created. Subsequently in 1983, the Subcommittee for the Development of the National List of Essential Medicines who works in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration as its secretariat. In the latter years, the function of the subcommittee became the maintenance of an optimal list of medicines, wherein the criteria for selection were cost, safety, efficacy and effectiveness of drugs. In each of these criteria, the subcommittee’s was to consider scientific evidence to determine which medicines are to be included in the list. Twenty-eight specialist working groups undertake the task of determining what should be on the list as well as informing price negotiations between manufacturers and the NLEM.

Thailand National List of Essential Medicines Process Flowchart.

Increasingly, awareness and realization that the evidence required for optimal coverage decisions involved analyses in cost-effectiveness as a fifth criterion. In 2009, the Health Economics Working Group was established under the subcommittee. The working group was composed of health economists, representatives from the subcommittee, academics and representatives from the three health insurance schemes and the working group secretariat. In this process, HITAP in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration was involved as the secretariat of the working group whose function was to generate procedures and assure quality of the evidence provided. The HEWG then prioritized the requests based on burden of disease, the risk to life and financial burden on households posed by the condition and social consideration and commissions the cost-effectiveness research from non-profit agencies (like HITAP).

HITAP Strategy

HITAP has follows five strategies:

1. Basic research and development for health technology assessment;
2. Capacity strengthening for HTA at individual, institutional and system levels;
3. Assess health technologies and methods for setting priorities in health and health care;
4. Dissemination of research results to policymakers, medical practitioners and the general public;
5. Development of HITAP’s own management and of connections between HITAP and academics and other HTA bodies at national and international levels.

International Work

In late 2013 in response to the increasing requests for involvement in international projects, HITAP created the HITAP International Unit in order to collaborate with international partners and networks working to improve health intervention and technology assessment (HITA) for Universal Health Care (UHC) and priority-setting capacity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The HIU draws upon the experiences of HITAP experts to match the growing demand for evidence-informed policy at the global level. Under the HIU, dedicated professionals work and collaborate to provide the means with which to build institutions dedicated towards establishing HTA and priority setting at the local, national and global levels through research, capacity building activities and knowledge products. With the vision of Building Health Technology Assessment Capacity for a Better Society engages in projects, activities and partnerships working towards the same efforts. The HIU has previously worked with the National Center for Pharmaceutical Access and Management (NCPAM), Philippines, Health Technology Assessment Committee (HTAC), Indonesia, Health Systems and Policy Institute (HSPI), Vietnam, the International Decision Support Initiative (IDSI), UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence International (NI), UK.

In the past HITAP has been instrumental in pushing HTA forward in international policy by becoming part of the delegation representing Thailand as sponsors and writers of several resolutions in the World Health Assembly (WHA) and the South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) of the World Health Organization (WHO), including:

• Health Intervention and Technology Assessment in Support of Universal Health Coverage Agenda. 15.7 A67/VR/9, WHA 67.23 24 May, 2014.
• Health Intervention and Technology Assessment in Support of Universal Health Coverage. SEA/RC66/R4 May, 2014.

HITAP has also worked to establish regional collaboration amongst HTA units in Asia. Along with the National Evidence-based Health Care Collaborating Agency, South Korea (NECA) and the Center for Drug Evaluation, Taiwan (CDE), HITAP founded the HTAsiaLink Network in 2010. The network is a collaborative platform for knowledge sharing and best practices of HTA in the Asia-Pacific region. One of its many activities is the production of a biannual HTAsialink Newsletter and an Annual HTAsiaLink Conference held in different member countries in Asia. Currently the Network has 30 member organizations from 16 Countries. HITAP has previously organized the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: Reflecting on a Decade of Achievement and Strengthening a Multi-Sectoral Approach to Implementation as well as co-organized the Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) 2016: Priority Setting for Universal Health Care in 2015.