[10] In a study of a community-based health insurance selleck chemicals EPZ-5676 scheme, among a low-income population in Gujarat, reimbursement of healthcare expenditure more than halved the percentage of catastrophic hospitalizations, although the relatively low rate of claims suggests that members submitted claims for only a fraction of all hospitalizations.[11] Given these statistics, there is a clear need for increased investment in the Indian healthcare sector. However, irrespective of the source of funding or the distribution of public versus private healthcare provision, demonstration of value for money is a growing and global requirement that will no doubt shape future investments in Indian healthcare. Outcomes research and HTA are widely used to prioritize interventions that represent the most effective use of resources among many competing options in the developed world.

In India, states such as Kerala have begun discussions with established HTA agencies from other countries (such as the international arm of the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, NICE), recognizing that these approaches offer the potential to safeguard quality, accessibility, and efficiency within the Indian healthcare system.[12] To this end, the government and the Clinical Epidemiology Resource and Training Centre (CERTC) of Kerala have decided to formalize the development, dissemination, and implementation of best practice guidelines for selected high-priority diseases.

This initiative aims to address the disparity in the quality of primary and secondary care between urban and rural settings; the importance of publishing minimum quality standards is even more pressing, now that a system of health insurance has been set up in Kerala.[12] In a transitional economy such Carfilzomib as India, where chronic and non-communicable diseases represent a major public health challenge, choices related to the allocation of healthcare resources are difficult. Health technology assessment methodology offers an equitable and transparent framework, within which these challenging decisions can be made.[13] In this review we describe how tools such as these can be utilized in the development of the Indian healthcare sector, and what considerations are necessary to allow them to be deployed effectively in the context of challenges particular to India.

These issues have been discussed at a workshop on the potential for HTA in though India, organized by the Public Health Foundation of India and the South Asia Network for Chronic Disease, held in October 2011, in Delhi.[14] MATERIALS AND METHODS Articles were sourced from literature searches in PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) and from related articles. The case study presented in this review is based on published literature relating to dabigatran etexilate.