Stakeholders Studies in HTA: A Theoretical Approach

Abstract

Health care requires the development of activities devoted to providing the health services that people needs and demands. Within these activities, the clinical procedures, as well as the use of technological resources, have had a predominant role in the accomplishment of these goals. That is why effective management of health technologies is a strategic objective that has been globally disseminated into health programs worldwide. The incorporation of stakeholders in management activities, particularly in the evaluation of medical technologies, has proven to be more complicated than it seems because of both the multidisciplinary nature of the functions and the interests and motivations that these activities promote. Given the important role that the stakeholders play in the health technology assessment (HTA) activities, an approach supported on administrative sciences and organizational theory to analyze and manage their participation is presented. Three principal issues are addressed: the identification of the stakeholders, the analysis of their dynamics and the development of strategies for their management; then some tools to deal with them are shown. A general example centered on the biomedical engineer that performs an analysis of a medical device for purchase is exposed.