Professional committees for health technology assessment

The relationship between Technology and Medicine It has been around for decades, but the pandemic represented a turning point: it shed light and made the profession “highly technical”. With this panorama, new questions arise: How should the public buy into new treatments and technologies? Is centralized procurement an option? What happens when obsolescence happens and how do we fix it? To answer these questions, from XV World Meeting of Health Directors It includes a panel of influential experts The importance of professionalization of assessors of this technology For good governance, both Public-Private Relationship As for access to innovation.

This discussion meeting was held Conrado DominguezMember of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Association of Health Directors (SEDISA) and former Director of the Canarian Health Service, in the context of the fifteenth edition Global Meeting of Health DirectorsOrganizing Committee Medical writing It is sponsored in collaboration with SEDISA and Abex Excelencia Robotica, Air Liquide Healthcare, BeiGene, Cardiva, GSK, MBA Surgical Empowerment and Siemens Healthcare.

For effective health technology acquisition, the first step is to evaluate it beforehand. Manuel Molina, General Director of the Virgen del Rocío Hospital (Seville), recalled that there were central and regional commissions for this task and asked if they were truly professional. Although efforts are being made to change this situation, as is already happening in Andalusia, it is a “pending issue”.

Once the purchasing model was evaluated and selected, this clinical researcher emphasized that purchasing should be patient-centered. And, it should be Personalized and Based on consensus in prior consultation with suppliers. “I think it’s very important All suppliers participate “Be as efficient as possible with better results,” he emphasized.

Centralized procurement

In this table, centralized procurement has gained a lot of importance, focusing on the procurement model for new therapies and value-based technology. JOSE JULIAN DIAZ MELGUIZO, the executive director of the Hospital de la Princesa (Madrid), pledged to protect this model and recalled that it had an important effect: savings. He emphasized that it should not be the main purpose of using it.

This model, he maintains, allows for the establishment of new treatments and technology. “The problem is not with the procurement model we use, but with what is happening Obsolescence Technology. We need to plan for current needs, but also plan for the next five years,” he stressed.

At this stage, Jose JolinThe manager of Health Care of Palencia recalled that to deal with obsolescence there must be proper planning to avoid it in the immediate future.

Public Sector Contracts Act and its impact

Another topic mentioned is the Public Sector Contracts Act. Executive Director of the Pontevedra Health Region, Jose Flores, He has criticized the regulation as the way to contract medical supplies, but it’s better “so we’re less gutsy or thuggish in the way we contract.” Regardless of the form of purchase, “health systems need this technology to continue to improve.” For this, public-private collaboration becomes the “fundamental”.

One of the speakers’ meeting points was the importance of working in this collaboration. Jolin recalls that during the pandemic, without institutions, “almost nothing” could be done. “We can look the other way, but we either go hand in hand or we can’t do anything,” he concluded.