The current capacity and future development of economic evaluation for policy decision-making: A survey among researchers and decision-makers in Thailand

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to explore the knowledge, experience, and attitudes toward economic evaluation (EE) among decision-makers and researchers in Thailand. Methods: Researchers were purposively selected from Thai academics and both public and private research organizations related to EE. Decision-makers at the provincial level were purposively selected from the members of the Management Committees of Provincial Health Offices, and those at hospital level were randomly selected from members of the public and private hospital formulary drug committees throughout Thailand. The self-administered postal questionnaires were distributed. Univariate and bivariate analyses were applied. Results: Of the total 2575 questionnaires distributed, 758 (29.4% response rate) were completed and sent back. The majority of researchers and decision-makers were not familiar with technical terms commonly used in health EE, e.g., incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, discounting, and sensitivity analysis. More decision-makers (70.6%) had never had EE training compared to researchers (50.0%). Both roles indicated that value for money was one of the important issues to consider for health technology adoption. Conclusions: An extensive unmet demand for EE training among Thai researchers and decision-makers still exists. Findings from this study contribute to the short- and long-term plans for research capacity building. © 2009, International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR).