Evaluation of demands of inclusion, exclusion and alteration of technologies in the Brazilian Health System submitted to the National Committee on Technology Incorporation

The steady increase in the number of health technologies and advances in associated research generate management challenges in the choice of technologies to be made available to the public. From 2011, the process of inclusion, exclusion and alteration of technologies to the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) has undergone major transformations, such as the creation of the National Committee on Technology Incorporation (CONITEC). This study analyzed the decisions of CONITEC since its inception until July 2015. The analyzed variables were: type of technology, reason for application, name of the technology, indication, claimant and CONITEC decision status. We found that the Government was the main claimant, accounting for 58.1% of the 420 cases. The most frequent request was inclusion (93.8%) and the technology type was medicine (61.4%). Of the incorporated medicines, the classes of antineoplastic/immunomodulatory were the most frequent (39.47%). Society's desire for inclusion of an increasing amount of health technology contrasts with the limited resources available to management, which causes budget concerns. Using Health Technology Assessment (HTA), advances resulting from these innovations in the process were highlighted, and challenges were identified for the management and the academic community.