Applying Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) in Health Technology Policy Making: Background, Current Challenges, and Path to Future

Abstract

Introduction: The science of health technology policy-making has, in recent years, gone beyond merely conducting health technology assessment studies, systematic reviews or economic evaluations. In fact, sciences based on decision-making in operational research, such as multi-attribute and multi-objective decision-making methods, have been added to this field.

Methods: Examining several prominent papers in the field of applying multi-criteria decision analysis to the science of health technology assessment, this study attempts to provide guidance for policy makers in the field of health technologies to acquaint them with the history, current challenges, and the future of this field.

Results: Mathematical approaches based on multi-criteria decision analysis began to be used in the fields of health policy making and economics in 2006 and 2008. These approaches are still being completed to adapt to the field of health. The main challenges in this regard are the existence of attributes such as equity and ethical issues facing the use of technology in health systems. The quantitative assessment of such attributes is really demanding. It is also very difficult to weight the attributes in such a way that all the considerations regarding technology stakeholders can be taken into account.

Conclusions: In general, the application of approaches from applied mathematics to the field of health technology policy making can help us clarify the prioritization process. At the same time, however, using the efforts made so far by researchers in this field from around the world, we have, to a large extent, been able to overcome the operational shortcomings in applying those approaches in the field of health.