Towards the development and implementation of hospital-based health technology assessment (HB-HTA) in Poland: achievements of an exploratory HB-HTA project from 2019–2022

A comprehensive project exploring the implementation of hospital-based health technology assessment (HB-HTA) was conducted in Poland from 2019 to 2022. This initiative aimed to identify entities that could initiate and manage HB-HTA in the Polish context, including hospitals, the Province Office where was the creation of a new organizational unit the Regional Investment Evaluation Center – was recommended, the national HTA agency, the National Health Fund (the public payer), and the Ministry of Health. Despite the well-structured delineation of roles and stakeholders in the proposed HB-HTA model, its operationalization within the aforementioned institutions has not been realized. Challenges to the implementation of the model include a lack of suitably qualified personnel and a lack of commitment from key stakeholders. However, the late involvement of the national HTA agency and the Ministry of Health, as well as ongoing training and research initiatives in HB-HTA, indicate a growing interest in exploring its benefits. Finally, a central government body (Ministry of Health) will be responsible for coordinating HB-HTA in Poland. This could improve the overall HTA capacity and increase the likelihood of future implementation of HB-HTA in Poland.