Revisit Roles of HTA on Drug Policy in Universal Health Coverage in Thailand: Where Are We? And What Is Next?

OBJECTIVES: To describe the process, challenges, and future direction of health technology assessment (HTA), focusing on the drug selection of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) in Thailand.

METHODS: Literature and government documents were reviewed and analyzed by authors with experiences in HTA and drug policy in the country.

RESULTS: The structure of HTA and its process in the drug selection of the NLEM were described, followed by the outcomes of the use of HTA. Examples of lowering drug prices, as a result of price negotiation using HTA, were presented. A few examples were also provided to demonstrate how decisions were made from considering factors beyond cost-effectiveness findings. Finally, challenges on various issues including improvement of HTA structure and process were discussed for the future direction of HTA in Thailand.

CONCLUSIONS: HTA has been adopted as a tool for the drug selection of the NLEM to help Thailand achieve universal health coverage. Nevertheless, various challenges exist and need to be addressed.