A delegation of the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, consisting of Deputy Director for Clinical Affairs Mykhailo Lobas and Director of the HTA Department Oresta Piniazhko, made a working visit to the world’s leading HTA organizations – the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence of Great Britain (NICE) and the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), which is part of Scotland’s national health organization (Healthcare Improvement Scotland).
The visit took place at the invitation of foreign colleagues – the leading health economist of the SMC Ailsa Brown and the chair of the SMC expert committee Scott Muir.
“The main purpose of the visit was to study international experience in order to promote the development of HTA in Ukraine – this is both strengthening expert capacity and deepening cooperation with foreign partners. Another emphasis was placed on raising the level of compliance of HTA procedures in Ukraine with international best practices and on reviewing various organizational models of HTA organizations,” said Mykhailo Lobas.
According to him, the working study visit to the SMC, coordinated by Ailsa Brown, facilitated a detailed introduction to the consortium’s HTA organizational model, HTA procedures and methods, the practice of using the horizon scanning tool, and experience in conducting HTA for medical devices.
Members of the Ukrainian delegation were invited as observers to attend the meeting of the SMC HTA expert committee, which was chaired by Scott Muir.
With the Chief Executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Robbie Pearson, further possible areas of cooperation and exchange of experience in managing HTA processes were discussed.
During a working visit to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence of the United Kingdom (NICE), the achievements and results of cooperation since 2023 under the program of knowledge transfer and capacity development for institutionalization and management of HTA processes were analyzed. The prospects for continuing cooperation were discussed, in particular regarding the development of the expert potential of experts and participation in training programs.
“These measures made it possible to achieve important results. These include, in particular, a detailed, in-depth familiarization with the organizational models and working methods of the British HTA agencies – SMC and NICE – and with the activities of the expert committee. The discussion of further steps to improve HTA processes in Ukraine proved extremely informative. New business contacts were established, and the possibilities of conducting further training programs were discussed,” – noted Oresta Piniazhko.
She emphasized that, thanks to these results, further improvement of HTA processes in Ukraine is planned, which will help improve the population’s access to clinically effective and cost-effective medical technologies, especially in the context of military aggression and martial law in Ukraine.
