HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT AS A TOOL FOR HEALTHCARE POLICY MAKING

Background. The article briefly describes the genesis of the concept of health technology assessment, which emerged in the 60s of the XX century. This was due to the emergence of technologies that gave rise to social, ethical, legal and political problems. Aim:To highlight the role of health technology assessment (HTA) in providing evidence-based information for health policy making.  Materials and methods. The object of the study was the information obtained from the relevant regulations and foreign and domestic literature sources describing the HTA process in terms of its impact on policy making. The basics of the HTA process and its purpose, which is to help develop safe and effective health care policies that focus on the needs of the patient and seek to achieve the best value for money, are established. Results. The list of factors that contribute to the use of HTA in health policy development, as well as the variety of models of real-world policy processes, is briefly reviewed.   It is emphasized that the interaction between policy makers and researchers, as well as the role of each party in the HTA process, especially the application of the results, depends on the social model of society. The introduction of a scientific approach inevitably leads to increased openness and accountability of government decisions and actions. In such a society, social and economic reforms become more successful.      Conclusion. It has been determined that the introduction of the HTA institute in Ukraine provides healthcare policy makers with a reliable resource for implementing healthcare reform.