Development and implementation of health technology assessment: a policy study

To provide an overview of the development of health technology assessment [HTA] in Iran since 2007, and to facilitate further development of HTA and its integration into policy making. Data of this study were collected through key documents [e.g. literature, laws, and other official documentation] and analyzed by experts of opinion in form of qualitative methods. Health technology assessment entered to the political agenda in Iran only in 2007 with a strong impetus of an evidence-based medicine movement with the bellow objectives: Institutionalization of evidence-based decision making in Ministry of Health, Creating an localization for structural HTA in Health system of Iran, Setting up training courses in order to educate capable manpower to full up the capacity of the universities, Establishment of a new field in HTA subject in medical universities for MSc and PhD degree, International communication about HTA through national website and possible participation in international Congress. HTA has been established in the healthcare system of Iran but what is needed is a clear political will to push forward the objectives of HTA in Iran. Similar to other countries, advance the regulation on the adoption of new health technologies to improve not only technical or allocate efficiency, but also health equity

[Estimation of the costs of MRI 3 Tesla and MRI 1.5 Tesla in Iran, for the purpose of comparison]

The aim of this study was to estimate and compare the costs of MRI3Tesla and MRI1/5 Tesla in Iran in order to offer recommendations to the health system policymakers and hospital administrators in regard to the use of MRI 3 Tesla and its costs in Iran. This was an economic evaluation study which was performed by reviewing articles and economic modeling. Data were obtained from internet and the main suppliers of this technology and their representatives in Iran and also hospitals using these technologies. We divided the costs into three categories: capital costs including buildings and machinery depreciation, staff costs and other costs [costs of consumable materials, running costs and maintenance]. For 1500 tests per year, the unit cost was estimated at 4,500,000 Rials per test for MRI 3 Tesla and 3,500,000 Rials for 1.5 Tesla. If the number of tests per year was 3000, the unit cost would be 2,400,000 Rials for 3 Tesla and1,900,000 Rials for 1.5 Tesla. For 6000 tests per year, the unit cost would be was 1,350,000 Rials for 3 Tesla and 1,050,000 Rials for 1.5 Tesla. For 12,000 tests per year, the unit cost would be 710,000 Rials for 3 Tesla and 560,000 Rials for 1.5 Tesla. For 24000 tests per year, the unit cost would be 373000 Rials and 300,000 Rials for 3 Tesla and 1.5 Tesla respectively. For 1500 to 24000 tests per year the cost of each test with MRI 3 Tesla system in Iran, will vary between 373000 to 4527000 Rials. It is recommended that this technology be used in the centers with sufficient number of patients otherwise it may give rise to extra costs

Health technology assessment on insulin analogues: the rapid review of second type studies

analogues insulin is similar to human insulin but have differences in cell structure that leading to differences in characteristics of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. A systematic review of published studies between 2009 until June 2010 in Cochrane Library [CENTRAL and Cochrane Systematic Reviews], DARE, NHS EEDs, and CRD databases were searched. Only nine articles were identified to be included in this review. Most of these studies demonstrated that there were no more or less risks caused by rapid acting insulin compared with human insulin in terms of safety. The risk of sever hypoglycemia significantly, reduced by using long acting insulin analogue. Although it has been shown that insulin analogues are not cost effective, some of these studies pointed out that that insulin Aspart 30 compared with other analogues has more cost effectiveness. Although this type of insulin seems very effective for patients with diabetes, due to the less cost effectiveness in comparison to human insulin, it is recommended that government's resources for this technology will be allocated just to the children and elderly people