Health Technology Assessment (HTA) helps policymakers improve health systems by providing evidence-based recommendations on which health technologies to use and for which patients. The goal is to enhance the quality and efficiency of healthcare.

HTA supports decisions at various levels of the healthcare system, from national or regional governments to individual hospitals and care providers. When evaluating medicines, HTA considers whether they are:

  • Reimbursed in insurance-based systems (where insurance pays for healthcare).
  • Recommended in taxation-based systems (where a formulary of medicines is created for specific conditions).

From a HTA perspective, the key issue in understanding health systems is distinguishing between financing and care delivery.

  • Financing: who pays for services and how money is transferred to providers. This is important because it may influence behavior of practitioners and institutions.
  • Care delivery: how healthcare is delivered to individuals from practitioners and institutions. This is important because it may affect how medicines are then used.