Using real-world evidence in healthcare from Western to Central and Eastern Europe: a review of existing barriers.

ABSTRACT

As part of the HTx (Next Generation Health Technology Assessment) project, this study was aimed at identifying the main barriers for application of real-world evidence (RWE) for the purposes of health technology assessment in the Central and Eastern European countries. A mixed methods approach was employed to identify the main barriers a scoping review of the literature and a series of discussions with stakeholders. Based on the applied approaches, we attempted to summarize the main barriers and challenges related to transferability of RWE in five main groups technical, regulatory, clinical, scientific and perceptional barriers. Further research should pursue the development of detailed, consensus-based guidelines to improve the harmonization and standardization of RWE.