Implementing Health Technology Assessments in Latin America: Looking at the Past, Mirroring the Future. A Perspective...

In the last two decades, several countries in Latin America (LA) have shown an interest in developing health technology assessments (HTAs), but the process has not been uniform and has often been challenged by the health systems characteristics and the political or economic idiosyncrasies of these countries.

This article summarizes the discussions held by the participants at the 40th ISPOR HTA Council Roundtable for LA. An additional literature review was carried out to support some of the concepts included.

This article includes a brief description of the implementation of HTA over the last 30 years and then a conceptual analysis using examples of the broader use of HTA to support procurement decisions and risk-sharing agreements, which might play a future role in healthcare priority-setting in LA.

Formerly, HTA processes and methods played important although mostly isolated roles (with drug licensing or reimbursement being examples of this). Nowadays, with more and more innovative technologies and the establishment of value frameworks to support the priority setting in healthcare, HTA features a promising panorama for the health systems sustainability.