The Review Committee for Cancer Diseases postponed again

Face-to-face meetings of 7 Review and Assessment Committees within HIRA replaced in written form for the time being

In accordance with the government's policy, suboptimal measures such as the use of video camera IT are also prepared.

COVID-19 crisis that spread around the world is prolonged and the face-to-face meeting of the Review and Assessment Committees within HIRA is also changing by choosing the second-best solution.

 

Last month and this month, when the spread of infectious diseases in Korea was at the forefront, once it was postponed or canceled, it was no longer possible to postpone the reimbursement-related discussions.

 

After the health policy deliberlate committee schedule was canceled this month, the affiliated committees were confirmed to have adopted a written or postponed method according to government policies.

 

If the health policy deliberlate committee is the top legislative organization for health insurance, the sub-committees are specialized deliberations by field to introduce the health policy deliberlate committee.

 

These committees, which examine, evaluate and deliberate on pharmaceuticals and medical practices, are under the HIRA, and have specialized discussions in each field.

 

There are a total of seven committees, including the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, which is important for the supply of new drugs, as well as the Review Committee for Cancer Diseases, which is the center of discussions on anticancer drug benefits, the Medical service Expert Evaluation Committee, the Oriental Medical service Expert Evaluation Committee, the Treatment Materials Evaluation Committee, the Human tissue Expert Evaluation Committee, and the Disease Group Evaluation Committee.

 

Among them, the representative drug-related committees that deal with the new drug's reimbursement and the expansion, the discussion of the high-priced drug reimbursement tracks such as RSA, and the general reimbursement standards, are the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee and the Review Committee for Cancer Diseases.

 

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee has already decided to conduct a full written review, and it is highly likely that the Review Committee for Cancer Diseases will be discussed in writing accordingly.

 

In particular, the Review Committee for Cancer Diseases was postponed on the 26th of last month, and the government showed a willingness to discuss this month.

 

the HIRA decided to hold a meeting of the Review Committee for Cancer Diseases on the 6th of next month.

 

However, this is also scheduled, and the HIRA is struggling on a case-by-case basis regarding written, face-to-face, and face-to-face substitutions.

 

The remaining five committees are also planning to adopt this month's written or the Review Committee for Cancer Diseases-like approach.

 

The reason why the committee's face-to-face meetings are as important as the health policy deliberlate committee is that detailed deliberations and discussions are carried out in three dimensions for each area of expertise.

 

Depending on the case, a doctor or external person in the clinical field attends to express specific opinions on the necessity of reimbursement and non-reimbursed benefits, and this is important in that it serves as a decisive influence and ground for deliberation.

 

The HIRA, which operates all 7 committees, has already prepared video conferencing systems in Wonju and Seoul Smart Work Center to prepare for this unpredictable situation, and has the same level of face-to-face meetings so that committee members can view or collect opinions.

 

However, even so, in some cases, members of the situation who cannot use video IT equipment must participate, so basically, a written meeting will be adopted and utilized.

 

This is also in accordance with government guidelines.

 

In fact, among the committee members, those who return to their home country after business trips, those whose fever has been confirmed for any reason, and those who belong to hospitals, schools, etc., may be unable to attend meetings due to government policies or organizational schedules.

 

In response, the HIRA said, “Since the meeting cannot be postponed, the methodology will be different according to the trend.

 

Since the distribution of written data is basically provided to all members before the meeting, there is a way to make a decision after internal review with a review opinion in writing.

 

In the case of meetings on sensitive topics, additional meetings may be reviewed for feedback".

 

The HIRA said, “It will be operated in a way to avoid possible face-to-face meetings, but if there are important issues that require face-to-face discussions, it will be selected the next best option such as video conferencing.

 

It will not delay or delay important reimbursement discussions without missing the opinions of the committee members”.