Sponsored by ABIMED, LCA Consultores developed a study that measured the gains in social welfare resulting from technological increment. The presentation of the analysis at Hospitalar 2023 brought together the following debaters: Bruno Sobral, executive secretary of the National Health Confederation; Mirocles Campos Véras Neto, president of the Confederation of the Santas Casas de Misericórdia, Hospitals and Philanthropic Entities (CMB); Renato Freire Casarotti, president of the Brazilian Association of Health Plans (ABRAMGE); and Eliezer Silva, executive director of the Health System at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein. Among the researchers are Alessandro Campolina, coordinator of the Health Technology Assessment (ATS) laboratory at the Universidade de São Paulo Medical School (FMUSP); Thiago Caliari, associate professor at the Aeronautical Technological Institute (ITA); and Verônica Lazarini, project manager at LCA.

According to the study, the Medical Technology Index has a positive impact on the cost of healthcare. A 1% increase in the index positively impacts per capita health spending by 0.494%. Between 2009 and 2019, the increase in medical technology caused health spending to rise by R$97.68 billion (ANS + SUS).

For Renato Casarotti, the most important thing is for the sector to realize the infallibility paradox in which it is inserted, in which all the links in the chain have high efficiency, but this does not translate into the real patient environment. According to Eliezer Silva, the analyses performed by Hospital Albert Einstein follow this same line. “We realize that patients seen in the private sector have a greater chance of survival than those we see through partnerships in the public system,” he said. Mirocles Véras added that the budgetary situation of the Santas Casas in the country leads to situations where there is a lack of service.

“The main objective of the study was to shed light on the two spheres of medical technology – cost and social welfare – in order to assist in the conduct of discussions about its importance in the socioeconomic conditions of the country and in the decisions socio-economic conditions and in decision making about the use or not of such technologies by health systems,” explained Fernando Silveira Filho, chief executive officer of ABIMED.

Link to the complete study, block 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBxy6rP5ssk&list=PLCHvYErZGHnWw3VQNmhqDsLPwI4w_1CkK&index=12

Link to the complete study, block 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9vA7C6tlNo&list=PLCHvYErZGHnWw3VQNmhqDsLPwI4w_1CkK&index=13