Exploring the Broader Impact of Health Technologies on Health Inequalities: Perspectives, Measures, Tradeoffs, Barriers, and Solutions

Speaker(s)

Moderator: Uwe Siebert, MD, MPH, MSc, ScD, Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment; Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL - University for Health Sciences and Technology, Austria, Center for Health Decision Science and Dept. of Epidemiology and Health Policy & Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Institute for Technology Assessment and Department of Radiology; Massachusetts General Hospital; Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
Panelists: Beate Jahn, Assoc.-Prof. Dipl.-Math. oec. Dr.rer.soc.oec, Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment; Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences and Technology, Hall in Tyrol, Tyrol, Austria; Valentina Strammiello, MA, BA, European Patients’ Forum, Brussels, Belgium; Natalia Kunst, PhD, University of York, York, Yorkshire, UK; Klaas Kiesewetter, MA, MED-EL Medical Electronics, Innsbruck, Austria

ISSUE:

Health inequities denote systematic disparities in health among diverse population groups, imposing substantial social and economic costs. Healthcare interventions can influence these inequities and may extend their impact beyond the health sector, potentially affecting education and the labor market, where decisions are made by different bodies with separate budgets.

OVERVIEW:

In this panel, we will analyze regional variations in health technology assessment, focusing on benefit-harm-cost-equity trade-offs. Using examples, we aim to discuss the necessity of broader perspectives recognizing additional values and inherent trade-offs in health interventions. We will also explore barriers posed by limited real-world evidence for comprehensive distributional cost-effectiveness analysis (DECA) and address questions on measuring disparities.

We will set the scene with three (10-minute) impulse talks, followed by a moderated discussion with prepared questions and an audience Q&A session (30 minutes).

The first speaker will present a systematic review and DECA of hearing healthcare in Chile, addressing key questions: What are the main determinants of hearing health in Chile? What barriers exist to equal access to advanced hearing loss treatment? How can health inequality, a major policy concern for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), be reduced shifting between sectors.

Our second speaker will discuss methods for evaluating the equity impact of vaccination programs in LMICs. Topics include incorporating health equity into economic evaluations of vaccines and engaging local stakeholders. A case study on the Brazilian National Immunization-Program will highlight challenges in developing equity-informed economic evaluations and informing policy decisions.

Next, our third speaker will discuss the evaluation of infectious-disease measures in Europe, highlighting their varied impact on socioeconomic groups. Using recent insights from the German OptimAgent population model, this case example will demonstrate benefit-harm-cost-equity trade-offs and the use of aggregated and non-aggregated disparity measures.

This issue panel aims to foster a diverse and multi-stakeholder dialogue across regions and disciplines.

Code

205

Topic

Economic Evaluation