The State Program for Health Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan (RK) “Densaulyk” for 2016–2019 initiated the modernization of primary health care with the introduction of family practice in order to ensure the availability, completeness and quality of health services on the basis of an integrated healthcare system focused on the needs of the population. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the cochlear implantation (CI) programs.

A literature search was conducted for all clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, and reviews in the PubMed, Cochrane, and Center for Reviews and Dissemination databases. Two reviewers independently evaluated all publications for selection. The analysis included the cost-effectiveness and benefit from the CI program.

We analyzed the effectiveness of the services for CI in the RK and other countries (1). In our analysis, we identified that there is no research on Quality-adjusted Life Years (QALYs) and Cost-Utility Analysis (CUA) in RK. We found that, in general, the cost of CI and pre-surgical procedures are comparable with other countries. The length of stay in Kazakhstan was much higher (an average of 8 days) compared with other countries (3 days). Also in RK, there were significantly lower prices per hospital day and cost of various consultations. Postoperative costs of other countries consisted of one-third to two-thirds of the total costs for preoperative and implantation stages (2, 3). There was a little information on the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs in RK.

Economic research like QALYs and CUA are new directions in the healthcare system in the RK. Lack of integration between primary care, rehabilitation and other services leads to difficulties in assessing the effectiveness of CI programs (for example, in our case, there was the restriction of assessment in only postoperative costs).