Global health priorities and HTA experience during wartime – Oresta Piniazhko, Director of the HTA Department of the Center, took part in the conference “Shaping the Future of Health Priorities: Strategies for Resilient Solutions”, held on May 8-10 in Bangkok (Thailand).
At the invitation of the World Health Organization, she took part in plenary sessions, sessions and panel discussions of the conference and gave an oral presentation during the session on health technology assessment.
As part of the official conference program, Oresta Piniazhko had the opportunity to learn about current and future health care priorities around the world. She also exchanged experience with scientists, researchers, policymakers, and healthcare professionals involved in setting health care priorities in different countries.
The discussions raised the following topics:
- use of AI (artificial intelligence) and RWE (real-world evidence) tools to substantiate healthcare priorities;
- the concept of “early HTA” and priorities in strategies related to the allocation of budget resources for early HTA;
- ethics at the center of health care priorities: achieving a balance between efficiency and fairness;
- greening of health care: the priority of environmental sustainability;
- managing health care systems during crises, and more.
During the conference, the specialist was able to present Ukraine’s experience as well. In the session “Health Technology Assessment in Times of Crisis: What We Know Today and What We Need to Know for the Future,” she gave a presentation titled “Institutional Development of HTA During a War of Aggression and Full-Scale Invasion: The Ukrainian Experience.”
Oresta Piniazhko presented to the international audience the main achievements in the field of HTA in Ukraine. According to her, the team of experts of the HTA Department is actively working to improve patients’ access to clinically effective, cost-effective medicinal products, is developing its activities in line with the roadmap and best international practices, and has secured the support of partners from SAFEMed and NICE International.
She said that since the launch of the HTA procedure, the authorized body has provided the Ministry of Health of Ukraine with more than 100 conclusions with recommendations on medicinal products. She shared the practice of applying managed entry agreement instruments for innovative medicinal products, which makes it possible to provide patients with the necessary treatment. She focused attention on the launch of new procedures in HTA – giving stakeholders the opportunity to submit proposals on draft conclusions, and the conduct by the authorized body for state HTA of preliminary consultations on methodological issues of preparing dossiers for state HTA.
She spoke about further development priorities, in particular the development of a draft HTA guideline for medical devices. She also joined a discussion with WHO colleagues on the challenges of conducting HTA during martial law, Covid-19 and other emergencies, and on developing resilience.
The knowledge and experience gained during the conference will help improve the further stages of institutionalizing HTA in Ukraine, increase the expert capacity of our specialists, and bring HTA procedures in Ukraine into line with international practice. This, in turn, will make it possible to improve patients' access to clinically effective and cost-effective medical technologies.
