National policy on health technology management: a case study of the National Committee for Health Technology Incorporation (CONITEC)

Author(s)

Tania Yuka Yuba

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Medicina (FM/SBD)
• Defense date: 2019-02-04

Examining board members

Patrícia Coelho de Soárez; Jorge Otávio Maia Barreto; Rosangela Caetano; Marcia Thereza Couto Falcão

• Advisor: Patrícia Coelho de Soárez; Hillegonda Maria Dutilh Novaes

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Health Technology Assessment (HTA) aims to inform policy makers about the implications of the development, diffusion and use of technologies in health systems. HTA, as knowledge production and as health policy, has spread around the developed countries and, later, around developing countries. In the Brazilian context, the National Policy on Health Technology Management (PNGTS, in the Portuguese acronym) was published in 2009 and, in 2011, the National Committee for Health Technology Incorporation into the Brazilian public health system (CONITEC, in the Portuguese acronym) was created. Studies on the PNGTS have been observed to focus on the description of CONITEC\'s recommendation reports and on the analysis of methodological aspects, but have failed to address the implementation of this health policy. OBJECTIVE: To understand the process of implementation of the National Policy on Health Technology Management (PNGTS, in the Portuguese acronym), using CONITEC as a case study. METHODS: This is a single-case study to understand the PNGTS implementation process. The first phase of the research consisted in a quantitative analysis of formal documents (legal framework and CONITEC\'s recommendation reports) to produce descriptive statistics. In the second phase, interviews with stakeholders were carried out and qualitatively analyzed. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, uploaded to NVivo 12 and analyzed using the thematic analysis approach. The theoretical frameworks used for the qualitative analysis were Kingdon\'s agenda-setting and implementation analysis. Finally, the third phase aimed to interpret the quantitative and the qualitative information. RESULTS: The legal framework established a structured process and defined the scientific evidence required for the incorporation, alteration or exclusion of health technologies into or from the SUS (the Brazilian health system). A total of 199 CONITEC\'s recommendation reports were analyzed. The annual number of reports increased over the study period, peaking in 2013 (n = 54). In the following years, a slight decrease was observed: 2014 (n = 41), 2015 (n = 44) and 2016 (n = 31). The annual number of new technologies incorporated in 2013 (n = 24) was similar to that observed in 2014 (n = 24) and 2015 (n = 22), decreasing in 2016 (n = 13). The most frequently evaluated type of technology was \"medicines\" (68.3%), followed by \"procedures\" (20.1%). Of the 101 reports in which the technology was recommended for incorporation, 83 (82.2%) referred to internal demands, 13 (12.9%) to external demands, and 5 (4.9%) to mixed demands. Of these, 88 (87.1%) did not include either a full health economic evaluation or the calculation of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Regarding the 83 internal demands, only 8 (9.6%) presented a full HTA report; on the other hand, among the 13 external demands, 10 (76.9%) presented a complete HTA report. There were difficulties related to compliance with the recommendations contained in CONITEC\'s legal framework, so that relevant differences were observed between internal and external demands regarding the use of scientific evidence (health economic evaluation) and positive recommendations for incorporation into the SUS. In the second stage, the qualitative analysis identified a series of challenges for CONITEC\'s implementation, such as: lack of political-institutional stability, difficulties in the development of health economic evaluation studies, lack of clinical and economic data, and technical limitations for human resources to deal with economic data. The difference between internal and external demands can be explained by the legitimacy that internal demands have within the government and, on the other hand, by the need to regulate external demands. CONCLUSION: The use of health economic evaluation in the management of technologies in the SUS is still incipient, because there are structural and political-institutional difficulties for the development and use of scientific evidence. Other criteria than those contained in the legal framework are used in CONITEC\'s incorporation process (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/02713-0 - Policy of technological incorporation in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS): use the cost-effectiveness threshold in national economic evaluation
• Grantee: Tania Yuka Yuba
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate