the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme(825162)
IntroductionMeaningful patient involvement in health technology assessment (HTA)
is essential in ensuring that the interests of the affected patient population, their
families, and the general public are accurately reflected in coverage and reimbursement
decisions. Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are generally at less advanced
stages of implementing HTA, which is particularly true for patient involvement activities.
As part of the Horizon2020 HTx project, this research aimed to form recommendations
for critical barriers to patient involvement in HTA in CEE countries.MethodsBuilt
on previous research findings on potential barriers, a prioritisation survey was conducted
online with CEE stakeholders. Recommendations for prioritised barriers were formed
through a face-to-face workshop by CEE stakeholders and HTx experts.ResultsA
total of 105 stakeholders from 13 CEE countries completed the prioritisation survey
and identified 12 of the 22 potential barriers as highly important. The workshop had
36 participants representing 9 CEE countries, and 5 Western European countries coming
together to discuss solutions in order to form recommendations based on best practices,
real-life experience, and transferability aspects. Stakeholder groups involved in
both phases included HTA organisation representatives, payers, patients, caregivers,
patient organisation representatives, patient experts, health care providers, academic
and non-academic researchers, health care consultants and health technology manufacturers/providers.
As a result, 12 recommendations were formed specified to the CEE region’s context,
but potentially useful for a broader geographic audience.ConclusionIn this
paper, we present 12 recommendations for meaningful, systematic, and sustainable patient
involvement in HTA in CEE countries. Our hope is that engaging more than a hundred
CEE stakeholders in the study helped to spread awareness of the importance and potential
of patient involvement and that the resulting recommendations provide tangible steps
for the way forward. Future studies shall focus on country-specific case studies of
the implemented recommendations.
