When epistemic communities fail: health technology assessment in CEE

 The CEU Health Research Group, the CEU Center for Policy Studies

and the Corvinus University of Budapest

invite you to a presentation as part of the

 CEU - Corvinus Joint Health Policy Seminar Series

 
When epistemic communities fail:

health technology assessment in CEE

Olga Löblová
CEU (SPP)

In Western Europe, most countries have health technology assessment (HTA) agencies that help inform decision-making on which health interventions should be reimbursed from public budgets. In Central and Eastern Europe, however, HTA agencies are far less common. I suggest the reason behind establishment of HTA agencies, West and East, is the influence of epistemic communities - groups of experts united in their professional perspectives and policy goals. By comparing Poland (a country which has an HTA agency) and the Czech Republic (a country which does not, and which has limited plans to establish one), we can tease out the causal mechanism of epistemic communities’ influence on policy-making. The crucial scope condition for their influence is policy-makers’ demand – which can, however, be satisfied by alternative policies. I will tentatively explore alternatives to HTA (ad hoc decision-making, ministerial committees, voluntary agreements etc.), and the interests associated with them.

For more information, and a copy of the paper, please contact loblova_olga@phd.ceu.edu.