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2024 APEC Workshop on Advancing Health Technology Assessment for Sustainable Universal Health Coverage

The “APEC Workshop on Advancing Health Technology Assessment for Sustainable Universal Health Coverage” was organized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Chinese Taipei. This workshop was held in Taipei on 3-4 September, 2024 (GMT+8). The event engaged 16 speakers/experts and attracted around 100 participants from 13 APEC economies, including Australia; Canada; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Peru; the Philippines; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States; and Viet Nam.

Day 1 consisted of 3 plenary sessions including panel discussions. The topics were as follows,
(1) Plenary 1: Towards Universal Health Coverage: the Vital Role of HTA 
(2) Plenary 2: The Impact Stories of HTA 
(3) Plenary 3: Advancing HTA: Navigating Challenges, Building Opportunities, and Fostering Collaboration


Day 2 consisted of a half-day workshop and a site visit to Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital

Key Findings and Corporation Recommendations

  • A well-structured and transparent Health Technology Assessment (HTA) framework was crucial for managing the rising costs and complexities of healthcare systems and it played a vital role in ensuring equitable access to effective treatments, guiding reimbursement decisions, and maintaining sustainability in universal health programs. By evaluating new drugs, medical devices, and innovative technologies based on clinical evidence, cost-effectiveness, and safety, HTA helped allocate resources efficiently while adapting to rapidly evolving medical and technology advancements.

  • HTA highlighted its crucial role in ensuring healthcare systems were cost-effective, equitable, and responsive to innovation. Influencing both public and private healthcare decisions through comprehensive evaluations, value of timely, evidence-based guidance to shape policy and pricing decisions, integrating cost-effectiveness with ethical and social concerns, demonstrating that HTA not only guided healthcare decisions but also promoted broader health equity.

  • For sustainable UHC, HTA must support by addressing challenges to keep providing an affordable and sustainable, healthcare system and ensure its ability to respond to rapid technology development. To further evolve HTA frameworks, focusing on harmonization, lifecycle management, and strong stakeholder engagement between local and international adaptation and collaboration for effective, timely, and equitable healthcare access were key points.

  • In the future, strengthening institutional capacity, training HTA professionals, and fostering harmonization to engage expert organizations and stakeholders would enhance transparency and alignment with public health goals. Leveraging digital health technologies and AI would further improve HTA’s precision and impact in efficiently addressing healthcare challenges.

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© APEC Workshop on Strategies to Enhance Integrated People-Centered Health Care

​Tel: +886-2-28814577 | Email address: apecjeryun@gmail.com

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