Risk of ageism in the use of cost-effectiveness thresholds in the recommendations of the national commission for incorporation of technologies in the Brazilian Unified Health System

Government agencies perform health technology assessment when evaluating requests to incorporate technologies in public health systems. To promote participation in this decision-making process, the National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies in the Unified Health System (CONITEC) makes its recommendations available for public consultation for 20 days, which may occasionally be reduced or extended. Recently, CONITEC published its recommendations about the use of cost-effectiveness thresholds in health care decision-making. When reviewing the criteria for alternative cost-effectiveness thresholds, given that they promote innovation and equity in the Brazilian Unified Health System, we realized that the criterion “diseases affecting individuals at the end of life” was excluded from the list. This viewpoint article is a request for CONITEC to reconsider this position. The report disregards technical aspects related to the use of quality-adjusted life years as a metric in patients with low life expectancy, indicating the potential to discriminate against older adults and ignore the practical considerations of international organizations on this topic.