The Challenges in Conducting Economic Evaluations for Rehabilitation Technologies

Background: Health technology assessment (HTA) is an important evidentiary component in the decision-making process for the adoption of new healthcare technologies to the healthcare system. Economic evidence is an important consideration in HTAs. Recent systematic reviews in rehabilitation have shown a limited number of economic evaluations and high levels of uncertainty in the results. It is unclear whether there are challenges related to the field of rehabilitation and the technologies used in rehabilitation that inhibit the development of economic evidence. Methods: In this study, economic evaluations in rehabilitation were reviewed. This was followed by a summary of the latest evidence on the challenges of conducting HTA for medical devices and the relationship with rehabilitation technologies. Finally, several considerations are suggested to improve the HTA of technologies that target rehabilitation. A literature review of Google Scholar and PubMed was conducted to identify reviews in economic evaluations in rehabilitation. A recent review on the barriers to HTA of medical devices in general was also examined to identify similar concerns with rehabilitation technologies. Results: The challenges identified include the lack of high-quality studies, the interaction between the technology and the user, the short product life cycle, and estimation of efficacy in technologies with multiple target populations. Conclusion: Overall, many of the challenges in evaluating medical devices also apply to rehabilitation interventions. Further research and discussion on these issues are necessary to increase the clinical evidence for rehabilitation technologies, strengthen the development of HTAs, and facilitate the use of technologies to improve the health of individuals requiring rehabilitation.