Abstract
Health technology assessment is an important tool for policy decision makers to allocate health
resources efficiently. Though accessibility and knowledge in health technology assessment are barriers
for research utilization, a health technology assessment database has been developed in Thailand to retrieve
related research and disseminate it to targeted users. Its development was divided into three phases:
(1) development of database structure based on the focus group method with decision makers, health
practitioners, and academics/researchers, (2) searching and recording research in the database, and (3)
disseminating and evaluatiing database use. The database was available online at www.db.hitap.net
starting in January 2008. The results revealed that the database included 471 full economic evaluation
studies, 155 randomized controlled trial studies, and 106 quality of life studies. Evaluation of database
use in January 2009 showed that the majority of users are most satisfied with the up-to-date articles, the
usefulness of the database, and the database services that meet their expectations. However, the variety of
research articles should be determined in order to meet the users’ needs in the future.
