Abstract
Economic evaluation studies and budget impact analyses are considered essential
evidence for decision-making regarding the inclusion of high-cost medicines in the National List of
Essential Medicines, as well as the inclusion of non-pharmaceutical health technologies in the
benefit package of the Universal Health Coverage Scheme. The assessment of the quality of
completed research is a critical step that provides decision-makers with reliable information to
support appropriate and informed decisions. Therefore, a standardized assessment tool is of great
importance. The Health Economics Working Group (HEWG) under the National List of Essential
Medicines has commissioned the development of a rubric scoring tool to serve as a criterion for
evaluating the quality of economic evaluation and budget impact analysis studies.
The development of the rubric scoring tool began with a review of the three editions of
the Thai Health Technology Assessment guidelines, along with other relevant literature. The
drafted tool was then presented to stakeholders and HEWG to obtain feedback for further
refinement.
The resulting rubric scoring tool consists of a total of 20 items, including 13 items for
economic evaluation and 7 items for budget impact analysis. Each item carries equal weight and
is scored on a four-level scale: Excellent (9–10 points), Good (7–8 points), Fair (4–6 points), and
Needs Improvement (1–3 points), with a maximum total score of 200 points. There is no
predefined cut-off point to classify overall study quality based on the total score. Instead, the
assessment relies primarily on the consistency of scores assigned by reviewers, which should not
vary substantially given the clearly defined scoring criteria for each item.
In addition to its use as a tool for assessing research quality, the rubric scoring tool can
also support researchers from the early stages of the research process. It can be used to guide
the development of research proposals, plan data collection, and ensure the completeness and
rigor of the final report.
