Table 1 Case study—Thailand [16, 23]

Thailand is a frontrunner in the use of MCDA to prioritise health interventions. Since 2009, the prioritisation of non-pharmaceutical products available under universal health coverage (UHC) has involved the following steps: (1) nomination of topics/interventions for assessment by seven groups of stakeholders, comprising policy makers, health professionals, civil society, academics, industries, general population and patient groups; (2) scoring of options against the selection criteria by the research team; (3) selection of topics/interventions for assessment by consultation panels of stakeholders representing the Thai health insurance system, policy makers and academics; (4) technology assessment of interventions by the research team; and (5) discussion of the assessment results and decision making by the SCBP. Final approval is sought from the subcommittee on health financing

The MCDA is embedded in a decision making institution, being initiated by the National Health Security Office (NHSO), the institute managing UHC. For instance, in 2009 the MCDA assessed 17 possible services for inclusion in UHC. The research team presented the results of the assessment of nine of these interventions to the SCBP, who recommended that three of these be considered for adoption under UHC