World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

EVALUATION OF MEDICAL DEVICES AND CONSUMABLES: THE PROCESS AND THE CHALLENGES FROM THE JORDAN ROYAL MEDICAL SERVICES PERSPECTIVE. IS THERE A NEED FOR HTA INTERVENTION

Mohammad G. Al-Sharayri* and Rania A. Alefaishat

ABSTRACT

Background: In healthcare practice, to maximize the benefits of the available resources, it is economically unjustifiable for a decision-maker to adopt a new medical technology without an evaluation and comparison to the existing alternatives. Several healthcare organizations are revising the process of evaluating the medical devices (MDs) and medical consumables (MCs) in order to deal with the existing flaws, particularly after the global efforts to integrate the health technology assessment (HTA) in the protocols of evaluation. Aim: To describe the current process of assessment of MDs and MCs in Jordan Royal Medical Services (JRMS) and to address the challenges that face the procedure; in addition, to attract the appropriate attention of the importance of HTA in the process of evaluation; finally, to clarify the opportunity for improvements in the current procedure to make the decision of adoption more transparent and robust. Methods: The study was conducted in the Directorate of pharmacy and medical supply /division of medical consumables supply in collaboration with HTA unit in the JRMS, Amman, Jordan. In this study, the researchers fully described and revised each step of the current practice of MDs and MCs evaluation applied and approved in the JRMS in 2024. In addition, the study demonstrated the rationale behind the application of HTA in the evaluation process. Results: In JRMS, after submitting an evaluation file by the local agent, the evaluation of MDs and MCs is performed through an expert’s panel. The evaluation assesses the effectiveness of the product compared to the current practice. Typically, no cost considerations are included in the assessment of the MDs and MCs. Conclusions: In JRMS, the evaluation of MDs and MCs is completely depending on the comparative effectiveness of the product. Generally, no cost-effectiveness assessment is conducted for the new of MDs and MCs. The researchers recommend further considerations for setting a protocol for involving the HTA unit in the assessment of the new innovative technologies of MDs and MCs, specially the products with high impact on the budget, before adopting them.

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