EVIDENCE APPRAISAL WORKSHOP FOR PHILIPPINE HTA COUNCIL

In the Philippines, use of HTA is not completely new; there have been prior efforts to institutionalize a fair and systematic process of generating policy-relevant evidence to inform coverage of health services, such as listing of drugs in the national formulary and new benefits in the national social health insurance scheme. Previous laws and administrative issuances have served as basis for HTA activities in the past, but the passing of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Act 1 in early 2019 has strengthened the legal framework for HTA policy and practice in the country and sparked increased interest in the topic. In accordance to the HTA provisions in the Act, an HTA Council (HTAC) has been established with several subcommittees. It is the first body of its kind tasked with facilitating provision of such evidence-informed financing and/or covering recommendations to the Department of Health (DOH) and PhilHealth, the latter being the manager of the national health insurance scheme. Additionally, it oversees and coordinates DOH’s and PhilHealth’s HTA processes, and reviews their existing benefits package. Aside from the HTAC, the law also institutionalizes a dedicated HTA office in the Department of Health, which will serve as a technical secretariat for HTAC and an evaluation team with evidence generation capacity.

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