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Health Technology Advisory Council
From 1 April 2025, the Health Technology Advisory Council (HTAC) will be established. It is responsible for providing evidence-based recommendations to the Ministry of Health (MOH) specifically for high-cost, high impact health technologies so that decisions for public funding of these technologies are made in a fair, efficient and sustainable manner.
The HTAC’s terms of reference:
To function as an independent professional body, to support the MOH in determining the appropriateness of financial support for high-cost, high-impact health technologies.
To review the assessments made by the MOH Drug and Medical Technology Advisory Committees (DAC and MTAC), with regards to the clinical and cost effectiveness of treatments and thereafter provide funding recommendations to MOH.
To explain its evaluation and recommendations publicly when necessary.
MOH Drug Advisory Committee
The MOH Drug Advisory Committee (DAC) is responsible for providing evidence-based recommendations to MOH so that decisions for public funding of drugs are made in a fair, efficient and sustainable manner.
The DAC’s terms of reference:
To prioritise drug applications for subsidy consideration which hold potential for driving significant improvement in health outcomes;
To appraise the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of drugs, vaccines and gene therapies based on available therapeutic, clinical and pharmacoeconomic evidence;
To provide listing recommendations to the Ministry of Health (MOH), including conditions and/or criteria for subsidy;
To provide recommendations to MOH about MediShield Life coverage for cancer treatments, including conditions and/or criteria for inclusion on the Cancer Drug List (CDL); and
To monitor the impact of ACE guidance on prescribers’ behaviours.
MOH Medical Technology Advisory Committee
The MOH Medical Technology Advisory Committee (MTAC) is responsible for providing evidence-based recommendation to MOH so that decisions for public funding of medical technologies are made in a fair, efficient and sustainable manner.
The MTAC's terms of reference:
To identify and prioritise medical technologies with potential to address care gaps, deliver significant improvements in health outcomes and/or patients experience, ease of operator use, and/or improvements in the efficient use of resources for evaluation;
To deliberate and serve as a lead discussant, if needed, on evidence including comparative safety, effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, total cost of the medical technology and organisational feasibility;
To recommend whether subsidy should be provided for a medical technology and, if so, the conditions and the criteria for subsidy;
To monitor the impact of ACE guidance on prescribers’ behaviours; and
To act as champions to drive adoption of MTAC-recommended medical technologies, in support of subsidy decisions based on principles of health technology assessment.
MOH National Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee
The MOH National Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee (NPT) is responsible for driving the appropriate use of drugs in public hospitals and institutions.
The NPT’s terms of reference:
To advise the Ministry on the development of initiatives to promote the use of evidence-based, safe and cost-effective medicines in public hospitals and institutions (PHIs).
To develop strategies to harmonise and guide PHI's formulary listing in alignment with the Ministry's drug subsidy decisions where appropriate and to facilitate timely listing of subsidised drugs.
To advocate appropriate use of medicines by:
promoting the use of generic alternatives (including biosimilars) of medicines, where available;
working collaboratively with stakeholders to influence appropriate use of medicines in the PHIs (including compliance with ACE Guidance, where available); and
facilitating the sharing of national drug utilisation data to provide PHIs with appropriate benchmark for reviewing each PHI’s practices.