title: HTA Implementation Roadmap in Central and Eastern European Countries.
abstract: The opportunity cost of inappropriate health policy decisions is greater in Central and Eastern European (CEE) compared with Western European (WE) countries because of poorer population health and more limited healthcare resources. Application of health technology assessment (HTA) prior to healthcare financing decisions can improve the allocative efficiency of scarce resources. However, few CEE countries have a clear roadmap for HTA implementation. Examples from high-income countries may not be directly relevant, as CEE countries cannot allocate so much financial and human resources for substantiating policy decisions with evidence. Our objective was to describe the main HTA implementation scenarios in CEE countries and summarize the most important questions related to capacity building, financing HTA research, process and organizational structure for HTA, standardization of HTA methodology, use of local data, scope of mandatory HTA, decision criteria, and international collaboration in HTA. Although HTA implementation strategies from the region can be relevant examples for other CEE countries with similar cultural environment and economic status, HTA roadmaps are not still fully transferable without taking into account country-specific aspects, such as country size, gross domestic product per capita, major social values, public health priorities, and fragmentation of healthcare financing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Health Economics, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.|Syreon Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kaló
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gheorghe
authors.affiliation: Department for Development, Research and HTA, Agency for Quality and Accreditation in Health Care and Social Welfare, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Mirjana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huic
authors.affiliation: Syreon Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Marcell
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Csanádi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.|Danish Health and Medicines Authority, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Finn Boerlum
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Kristensen
mesh_terms: D057191:Capacity Building / Q000191:economics*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005060:Europe; D006291:Health Policy / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D040841:Resource Allocation; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*
keywords: Central and Eastern European countries; HTA components; HTA implementation; economic evaluation; evidence-based decision-making; health technology assessment