What is the Value of Developing an HTA Process?

Health technology assessment (HTA) processes are becoming increasingly established and embedded in healthcare decision making around the world. Yet, there is limited evidence on whether HTA processes at the system level offer value for money to those presiding over their creation, such as governments and ministries of health. That is, whether the value of improvements in the health system exceed the costs. To address this issue, we outline the approaches adopted in a sample of recent evaluations of HTA systems and propose a set of considerations for measuring and valuing HTA processes. The scale and remit of the process can help identify the relevant system-level impacts of HTA such as those on productive efficiency and population health, health equity, guiding innovation and care pathways, and broader impacts. We further describe the methodological challenges and potential approaches to evaluating HTA including the appropriateness of approaches. The considerations discussed can reveal the potential for ill-designed HTA processes to generate less social value than intended.