The development, incorporation and use of new technologies in health systems in Brazil, as well as their sustainability, are inserted in social and economic contexts, which originate in the continuous production and consumption.

In Brazil, the increase in investments in health follows a moment of inversion in the age pyramid. The elderly population grows; with this, investments and expenditures in health should increase a little more in the coming years.

Amid the continuous growth in expenses, the increasing production of new technologies and changes in the profile of populations characterize the importance of HTA – Healthcare Technology Assessment.

Economic evaluation in healthcare and HTA

The Health Technology Assessment (HTA)  focuses on verifying and proving whether a certain technology is safe and cost effective compared to other alternatives available on the market.

This important tool was developed especially for health systems, aiming to assess the clinical, social, economic and ethical consequences resulting from the incorporation of new technologies, whether in public or private systems. Here it is important to clarify that according to the World Health Organization, Health Technology is the “application of knowledge and skills organized in the form of devices, drugs, vaccines, procedures and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of life”.

It is a fact that the Brazilian socioeconomic context presents numerous challenges in the configuration of policies, services and implementation of new technologies in public health. Security, Effectiveness, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Availability and Distribution, these are some of the aspects analyzed by  HTA. However, economic evaluation is one of the most determining aspects in this decision-making process.

Most of the time, opting for a new technology represents a higher cost. It is for this reason that economic studies and analyzes are fundamental.

Economic evaluation involves comparative analysis between costs and results, such as:

• Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: compares different health interventions whose costs are clearly expressed and the effects through factors such as mortality, hospitalization rate, among others.
• Cost-Utility Analysis: variation of cost-effectiveness analysis in which the effects of technologies are measured in quality-adjusted life years, that is, how much it is possible to gain in quality of life through the solution;
• Cost-Minimization Analysis: : variation that only compares the costs of two or more technologies, as the health effects that result from the compared technologies are considered to be similar;
• Cost-Benefit Analysis:  here both technology costs and their effects are compared and valued in monetary units.

The application of the method is complex and requires qualified professionals. MAPESolutions is a specialist and provides scientific knowledge services applied to health management and contributing to the identification of added value and designing new solutions.