Health Technology Assessment And Special Funding Requests

Health care always has limited resources thus, health economists have a number of tools to analyse and address the situation. CEA provides a method for prioritizing the health intercessions and resource allocations by identifying potential projects that can yield the greatest improvement in health for the least resources.

Health technology assessment (HTA) is operated using analytical structures, drawing on clinical, epidemiological and health economic data to determine how best to allocate limited healthcare resources.

Other factors, including social, ethical and value judgments, may also inform the committees’ considerations. On the basis of the available evidence, the committees recommend whether government subsidy should be given for a health technology through the respective financing scheme. Although using these useful determining techniques listed above, there are multiple responses to this very challenging yet engaging question as each person has a different perspective and interpretation. However given the very limited resources I would first prioritise: commissioning a pre-exposure HIV prophylaxis service; which is one of the high-risk, infectious and preventable, communicable diseases and the dominant factor of death in developing countries which can be addressed before it develops prevalently among people and the community. Once all preventative measures are executed, it is cost-effective and there is a long-term benefit for life since prevention is always better than cure.

In my view, the second would be: an expensive chemotherapy drug for paediatric brain tumours approved by the neighbouring CCG. Modern technology has impacted greatly on the practice of pediatric neuro-oncology. It is critical that we prioritise children- as most of the brain tumours in children can be well-managed by surgical and medical interventions and hence, the survival rate for children can be improved.

In my list, the third will be hip replacement for a thirty-year-old, as this is young person and can achieve a superior quality of life when it acquires appropriate interventions. Furthermore, it provides for the quantification of the net costs of the intervention (promotional, preventative, curative, or rehabilitation), and an assessment of those costs per disability-adjusted life year that is saved.

Fourth in my list is a special funding request that argues exceptionality because the treatment may preserve function critical to that person's employment. Once, he receives his medical treatment and interventions; it impacts both on quality and quantity of life - an increase in quality of life from utility units for five years, resulting in a gain of one QALY.

According to my outlook, fifth is a borderline cost-ineffective service which targets a disadvantaged group. This group requires support as there are inequalities in the distribution of health by social class, gender, and ethnicity, which sometimes will be neglected, thus they require healthcare. If their needs are addressed, they can support themselves and can be an asset to the community.

Sixth in my list is a special funding request that argues exceptionality because the patient is a single mother. Single mothers ideally require funds to take care of their children but in this situation it’s more of a social case and not a medical case therefore it can be dealt in an aspect of psycho-evaluation.