National Guidelines for the Budget Impact Analysis of Health Technologies in Ireland (HIQA)
These guidelines provide a standard approach for assessing how new health technologies affect the national healthcare budget in Ireland. They help ensure consistent and transparent budget impact analyses used in reimbursement decisions.
At a glance
Use when
Conducting or reviewing budget impact analyses for health technologies being considered for reimbursement in Ireland.
Avoid when
Assessing long-term cost-effectiveness or broader societal impacts; applying in non-Irish healthcare systems with different funding and pricing structures.
Inputs
Health technology cost, current and expected uptake, target population size, treatment costs, comparator intervention costs, time horizon, discount rate (if applicable), VAT rates, healthcare resource use data.
Outputs
Budget impact results presented as total and annual costs to the healthcare system, cost comparisons between scenarios, sensitivity analysis results, and narrative interpretation.
How it works
The guideline establishes methodological standards for conducting budget impact analyses (BIAs) in the Irish health technology assessment (HTA) context. It specifies requirements for scenario definition, time horizon (typically 3–5 years), population and uptake estimation, cost components (including VAT treatment), and sensitivity analyses. It is used by HIQA, the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE), the Department of Health (DoH), and the Health Service Executive (HSE) to inform pricing and reimbursement decisions.
- HTA domains
- Costs & Economic Evaluation
- Assumptions
- Stable healthcare pricing and funding environment over the time horizon; accurate population and uptake projections; availability of reliable cost and utilization data; consistent application of VAT rules.
- Strengths
- Provides a standardized, transparent framework for BIA in Ireland; supports consistency across HTA submissions; developed and applied by key national decision-making bodies; includes practical guidance on scenario and population modeling.
- Limitations
- Limited flexibility for highly innovative or rare disease technologies with uncertain uptake; may not fully capture system-level organisational costs; focused on short- to medium-term horizons (3–5 years).
- Also known as
- HIQA Budget Impact Analysis Guidelines, National Guidelines for Budget Impact Analysis in Ireland
Questions this answers
- › What is the expected financial impact of adopting a new health technology on the Irish healthcare budget?
- › How should the target population and uptake of a new technology be estimated over time?
- › What time horizon should be used for budget impact analysis in Ireland?
- › How should comparator scenarios be defined in a BIA?
- › How should VAT and other cost components be treated in the analysis?
- › What sensitivity analyses are required to test the robustness of budget impact results?
References & sources
- websitehiqa.ie ↗
Similar by meaning
Beta record. Based on the original catalogue summary; primary-source enrichment pending.