Health Technology Assessment of the Medical Devices: A Case Study from the Czech Republic

Health technology assessment (HTA) has become the systematic evaluation of health technology’s properties and effects that inform decision-makers. The implementation and expansion of HTA can contribute to slowing down burgeoning healthcare costs. In the Czech Republic, elements of HTA are quite standardly used in pharmacoeconomics, but questions arise on the use of HTA of medical devices. The theoretical framework developed is followed by a case study of the Czech Republic to assess whether the use of HTA of medical devices in the Czech Republic is implemented. This study uses publicly available resources, mainly public health acts and public notices related to HTA. We examined the institutionalisation of HTA for medical devices (HTA applied only at a selected area of medical devices) in the Czech Republic and compared Czech’s HTA principles of medical devices to the HTA Core Model. It was found that the HTA process used for medical devices is very limited in the Czech Republic. Our data show that HTA was officially established, but in reality, the medical devices have not been assessed following HTA principles.