The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) has implemented a change extending the timeframe for patients to provide their opinions on the Health Technology Assessment (HTA), which are included in the Pharmaceutical Beneit and Reimbursement Scheme Joint Committee’s decision-making process on the admission of new drugs and medical devices into the National Health Insurance (NHI) reimbursement scheme.

NHIA Deputy Director General Tsai Shu-ling said that many patients have been paying for new drug regimens out of pocket ahead of NHI reimbursement and are able to provide important datapoints for the assessment of new drug reimbursement. Therefore, the NHIA has extended the timeframe to compile patients’ opinions for the HTA from 14 days to 30 days.

Taiwan Alliance of Patients’ Organizations Chairman Yaung Chih-liang said that it took a lengthy appeal for patient groups to be given more time to provide their opinions on new drug reimbursement. As the majority of patients are not clinical specialists, there was tension in meetings with experts, who are often doubtful or dismissive of patients’ suggestions and regarded patients as attention-seeking troublemakers. However, with time, the quality of communication between experts and patients gradually improved.

Taiwan Breast Cancer Alliance Chairperson Huang Shu-fang said the opinions of patients are invaluable in the decision for new drug reimbursements as they provide insights on urgency of demand, the treatment experience, the level of financial burden and many other details that are often left out in policy decisions. A patient once said that if a larger variety of new drugs could be admitted into the NHI reimbursement scheme earlier, his wife could have possibly survived longer.

For younger cancer patients who are racing against time, new drug reimbursement decisions are matters of life and death, Director Huang said, while expressing hope that patients will be able to receive timely treatments before their cancer progresses.

【2019-11-5 / United Daily News】