Title: An Analysis of the Applications for Confirmation on Whether to Belong to the Subjects of the New Health Technologies Assessment in Korea
Abstract: Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service of Korea has been running a system of 'The application for confirmation on existing or new health technology' which is a preliminary step for making a judgement on whether to belong to the subjects of the review before nHTA since September 21, 2015. Once determined as a new health technology by making a judgement on whether identical with or similar to health technologies registered in the existing covered·uncovered list, it goes through a nHTA. This study intends to provide basic data for preparing a reasonable work process in the future by analyzing types assessed for 2 years. This study calculated a general statistic regarding assessment results etc. of technologies applied for confirmation for 2 years as of October 31, 2017. The number of technologies applied for confirmation on uncovered expenses of medical care expenses for 2 years is 864 cases, and among them, for 838 cases (97%), notification of results was completed. Among 638 cases except for cases for administrative processing (200 cases, 24%), 339 cases (53%) were determined as new health technologies and 290 cases (46%) as existing technologies. Assessment results by time of assessment show that the more recent applications are, determination of new health technologies decreases and determination of existing technologies increases. This is considered due to continuous revision of the deliberation criteria of determining new health technologies. In case that new technologies which were modified marginally compared to existing technologies go through new health technology assessment, it can cause a waste in administration, delay medical equipment's entry into the market and deter patients' accessibility to treatment. It is needed to make efforts to enhance the predictability of assessment results for applicants and the consistency of assessment through continuous analysis of processed types in the future.