A comparative analysis of patient participation in health technology assessment systems worldwide: trends and practices

TL;DR

This paper compares how patients are involved in health technology assessments globally, showing wide variation in participation levels.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel scoring framework to quantify and compare patient participation across 56 HTA systems worldwide.

Findings

Patient participation in HTA systems varies significantly, with some systems showing active engagement and others limited involvement.

This is the first large-scale analysis to measure patient participation in HTA systems across multiple regions.

Abstract

Over the last decades, Health Technology Assessment (HTA) has become pivotal in guiding decision-making concerning the inclusion of new health technologies in health systems worldwide. As HTA continues to evolve, the importance of patient participation to achieve a more informed, transparent, and legitimate decision-making process has gained increased recognition. Yet practices vary widely and are often modest in scope.

We conducted a comparison and ranking of 56 HTA systems across five regions based on levels of patient participation throughout the HTA process. Participation was measured by applying a scoring framework we developed to publicly available information for each system.

Many HTA systems include patient participation, but the level of involvement shows substantial variation across systems and tends to be comparatively modest. Some systems demonstrate active engagement throughout the process, while others show limited participation.

To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to quantify patient participation on a wider scale to enable comparisons across a large sample of HTA systems. The findings offer policymakers, healthcare professionals, patients, and researchers a comprehensive view of current approaches and highlight opportunities to enhance patient involvement in HTA.

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