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. 2018 Nov 29;16(1):115.
doi: 10.1186/s12961-018-0378-x.

Budgeting for a billion: applying health technology assessment (HTA) for universal health coverage in India

Saudamini Vishwanath Dabak  1 , Songyot Pilasant  2 , Abha Mehndiratta  3 , Laura Emily Downey  3 , Francoise Cluzeau  3 , Kalipso Chalkidou  3   4 , Alia Cynthia Gonzales Luz  2 , Sitaporn Youngkong  5 , Yot Teerawattananon  2   6   7
Affiliations

Budgeting for a billion: applying health technology assessment (HTA) for universal health coverage in India

Saudamini Vishwanath Dabak et al. Health Res Policy Syst. .

Abstract

Background: India recently launched the largest universal health coverage scheme in the world to address the gaps in providing healthcare to its population. Health technology assessment (HTA) has been recognised as a tool for setting priorities as the government seeks to increase public health expenditure. This study aims to understand the current situation for healthcare decision-making in India and deliberate on the opportunities for introducing HTA in the country.

Methods: A paper-based questionnaire, adapted from a survey developed by the International Decision Support Initiative (iDSI), was administered on the second day of the Topic Selection Workshop that was conducted as part of the HTA Awareness Raising Workshop held in New Delhi on 25-27 July, 2016. Participants were invited to respond to questions covering the need, demand and supply for HTA in their context as well as the role of their organisation vis-à-vis HTA. The response rate for the survey was about 68% with 41 participants having completed the survey.

Results: Three quarters of the respondents (71%) stated that the government allocated healthcare resources on the basis of expert opinion. Most respondents indicated reimbursement of individual health technologies and designing a basic health benefit package (93% each) were important health policy areas while medical devices and screening programmes were cited as important technologies (98% and 92%, respectively). More than half of the respondents noted that relevant local data was either not available or was limited. Finally, technical capacity was seen as a strength and a constraint facing organisations.

Conclusion: The findings from this study shed light on the current situation, the opportunities, including potential topics, and challenges in conducting HTA in India. There are limitations to the study and further studies may need to be conducted to inform the role that HTA will play in the design or implementation of universal health coverage in India.

Keywords: Health technology assessment in India.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This survey was conducted as part of a workshop co-organised by the Department of Health Research, Government of India, and the International Decision Support Initiative, a network of priority-setting institutions. Participants were invited to take part in the survey during the workshop; completion of the survey was voluntary. In the questionnaire, the team sought personal opinions about the current status of and potential for health technology assessment in India. The questions were general and were not harmful to our subjects. Personal details were not requested as part of this survey and participants were notified that the data collected would be analysed anonymously. Finally, participants were informed that the results of the survey would be presented. For the above reasons, the team did not seek ethical approval for this study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

All authors are either currently working or have previously worked in India as part of the International Decision Support Initiative to support the development of health technology assessment in the country.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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