Health Technology Assessments (HTAs) form part of value assessments when bringing medical technologies to market and it is earmarked to inform National Health Insurance procurement decisions. As such, SAMED has commented on the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) circular 25 of 2022 on the performance of HTAs.
Within our submission, we comment on the CMS’s position and proposed way forward including
- Separating a national, single HTA system from duties imposed on individual medical schemes by legislation
- An independent HTA body (“institutionalised HTA”) free from bias from stakeholders and conflicts of interest – aligned to a draft SAMED position paper with suggested archetypes, based on international research.
- Concerns relating to the manner in which funders implement criteria of cost-effectiveness and affordability under the Medical Schemes Regulations
