Evaluation of rare diseases policy performance of oecd countries using mcdm methods

Abstract

Objectives: Rare diseases affect less than one out of every 2.000 people, which means they are much less visible in the general population than common diseases. It has several negative consequences for both patients and healthcare systems. Because of this negative effect, healthcare programs and policies must be well-structured. Nonetheless, countries' efforts in this area should be assessed to ensure effectiveness. The aim of this study is to assess the policy performance of 18 OECD countries in terms of rare diseases using health policy indicators. Methods: The outcomes of rare disease policy are identified using multi-objective optimization based on ratio analysis, complex proportional assessment, and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution methods, which are among the most efficient selection and ranking methods. Results: Germany, France, and the Netherlands are among the countries with the strongest rare disease policies. Latvia, Greece, and Turkey are among the lowest-performing countries in the ranking. Conclusions: Performance evaluation studies for service delivery and policy arrangements in the field of rare diseases are necessary.