Article2019

How Procurement Judges The Value of Medical Technologies: A Review of Healthcare Tenders

Fiona Alice Miller · Pascale Lehoux · Stuart J Peacock · Valeria E. Rac · Jeff Neukomm · Carolyn J. Barg +2 more

42 citations0/0 files storedInternational Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care

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Public Procurement and Policy Health Services Management and Policy Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Procurement's important role in healthcare decision making has encouraged criticism and calls for greater collaboration with health technology assessment (HTA), and necessitates detailed analysis of how procurement approaches the decision task. METHODS: We reviewed tender documents that solicit medical technologies for patient care in Canada, focusing on request for proposal (RFP) tenders that assess quality and cost, supplemented by a census of all tender types. We extracted data to assess (i) use of group purchasing organizations (GPOs) as buyers, (ii) evaluation criteria and rubrics, and (iii) contract terms, as indicators of supplier type and market conditions. RESULTS: GPOs were dominant buyers for RFPs (54/97) and all tender types (120/226), and RFPs were the most common tender (92/226), with few price-only tenders (11/226). Evaluation criteria for quality were technical, including clinical or material specifications, as well as vendor experience and qualifications; "total cost" was frequently referenced (83/97), but inconsistently used. The most common (47/97) evaluative rubric was summed scores, or summed scores after excluding those below a mandatory minimum (22/97), with majority weight (64.1 percent, 62.9 percent) assigned to quality criteria. Where specified, expected contract lengths with successful suppliers were high (mean, 3.93 years; average renewal, 2.14 years), and most buyers (37/42) expected to award to a single supplier. CONCLUSIONS: Procurement's evaluative approach is distinctive. While aiming to go beyond price in the acquisition of most medical technologies, it adopts a narrow approach to assessing quality and costs, but also attends to factors little considered by HTA, suggesting opportunities for mutual lesson learning.

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2016Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis for Health Care Decision Making—An Introduction: Report 1 of the ISPOR MCDA Emerging Good Practices Task Force 2016Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis for Health Care Decision Making—Emerging Good Practices: Report 2 of the ISPOR MCDA Emerging Good Practices Task Force 2003The development of group purchasing: an empirical study in the healthcare sector 2008The involvement of small- and medium-sized enterprises in public procurement: Impact of resource perceptions, electronic systems and enterprise size 2007Mapping the integration of social and ethical issues in health technology assessment 2010Medical technology procurement in Europe: A cross-country comparison of current practice and policy 2007Hospitals' Strategies for Orchestrating Selection of Physician Preference Items 2004Public sector purchasing of health services: A comparison with private sector purchasing

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