Activities

The Department of Health Technology Assessment and Economic Evaluation is devoted to the following activities

Health Technology Assessment through its Health Technology Assessment (HTA) agency, the IECS publishes reports that are a valuable tool to guide health systems' decisions about insurance, refunds, and health technology investment. Our Department was appointed WHO/PAHO Collaborating Center for Health Technology Assessment (HTA).

Health Economic Evaluation: We conduct studies in most Latin American countries to assess and compare burden of disease, cost, quality of life and the benefits of new technologies in different fields, such as vaccination, non-communicable diseases, oncology, and communicable diseases. We conduct cost-effectiveness analyzes based both on decision models and on individual patients, and we analyze possible adjustments for the local implementation of models originally developed for other contexts.

Budget impact analysis, return on investment and fiscal impact analysis: These studies guide decision-making processes, since they assess the budgetary and/or economic impact of implementing new health technologies.

Health economics and health systems. This activity includes the analysis and the evaluation of health markets, health inequalities, and the socio-economic determinants of health. We develop studies to identify and describe access barriers, levels of use of health resources, and restrictions to the supply of health care services. We conduct statistical and econometric analyzes of primary and secondary sources presenting evidence to back decision-making processes about health policies and public health.

Systematic reviews on epidemiology, use of resources, and costs. Together with the team of the Argentine Cochrane Center-IECS, we conduct systematic reviews and meta-analyses focusing on the Latin American region.

Technical cooperation: We conduct joint activities with governments, donor agencies, universities, health organizations, hospitals, health care centers, non-governmental organizations, and other public and private entities.

Training: we have a Master's degree program in clinical effectiveness with emphasis on health technology and economic evaluations.  We conduct workshops and webinars about health technology assessment, economic evaluations, modeling, systematic reviews, and evidence-based medicine. During the last five years we have trained more than 500 students from most of the countries in our region.

PROVAC Center of Excellence for immunization policy decision-making. The IECS is one of the five centers of excellence of Latin America and the Caribbean that takes part in PAHO's PROVAC initiative to promote informed decisions based on scientific evidence for the introduction of new vaccines, taking into account key guiding principles, such as cost-effectiveness, fairness, and accessibility.