Health technology assessment (HTA) is a multidisciplinary process that uses systematic and explicit methods to evaluate the properties and effects of a

health technology Health technology is defined by the World Health Organization as the "application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of liv ...

. Health technology is conceived as any intervention (

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

device A device is usually a constructed tool. Device may also refer to: Technology Computing * Device, a colloquial term encompassing desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. * Device file, an interface of a device driver * Peripheral, any devi ...

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...

vaccine A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified. ...

procedure Procedure may refer to: * Medical procedure * Instructions or recipes, a set of commands that show how to achieve some result, such as to prepare or make something * Procedure (business), specifying parts of a business process * Standard operat ...

, program) at any point in its lifecycle ( pre-market, regulatory approval, post-market, disinvestment). HTA aim is to inform "decision-making in order to promote an equitable, efficient, and high-quality health system''".' '' It has other definitions including "a method of evidence synthesis that considers evidence regarding clinical effectiveness, safety, cost-effectiveness and, when broadly applied, includes social, ethical, and legal aspects of the use of health technologies. The precise balance of these inputs depends on the purpose of each individual HTA. A major use of HTAs is in informing reimbursement and coverage decisions by insurers and national health systems, in which case HTAs should include benefit-harm assessment and economic evaluation." And "a multidisciplinary process that summarises information about the medical, social, economic and ethical issues related to the use of a health technology in a systematic, transparent, unbiased, robust manner. Its aim is to inform the formulation of safe, effective,

health policies Health policy can be defined as the "decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific healthcare goals within a society".World Health Organization''Health Policy'' accessed 22 March 2011(Web archive)/ref> According to the ...

that are patient focused and seek to achieve best value. Despite its policy goals, HTA must always be firmly rooted in research and the

scientific method The scientific method is an Empirical evidence, empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article hist ...

Purpose

Health technology assessment is intended to provide a bridge between the world of research and the world of decision-making. HTA is an active field internationally and has seen continued growth fostered by the need to support management, clinical, and policy decisions. It has also been advanced by the evolution of evaluative methods in the social and applied sciences, including clinical epidemiology and

health economics Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and healthcare. Health economics is important in determining how to impr ...

. Health policy decisions are becoming increasingly important as the opportunity costs from making wrong decisions continue to grow. HTA is now also used in assessment of innovative medical technologies like telemedicine e.g. by use of the

Model for assessment of telemedicine Model for assessment of telemedicine (MAST) is a framework for assessment of the value of telemedicine. Description Telemedicine services may have many different types of outcomes and can be studied in many ways. In order for those who develop ...

(MAST). Health technology can be defined broadly as:

History

The discipline of HTA was firsts developed in the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, which published its first report in 1976. The growth of HTA internationally can be seen in the expanding membership of the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA), a non-profit umbrella organization established in 1993. Organizations and individuals involved in the production of HTA publications may also affiliated with international societies such as

Health Technology Assessment International Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organizat ...

(HTAi) and International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Academic courses, typically in Masters programs, are also offered in health technology assessment and management are also offered.

By country

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom's

National Institute for Health and Care Research The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government’s major funder of Clinical research, clinical, public health, Social care in England, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 bil ...

(NIHR) runs several research programmes which may be viewed as falling into the realm of Health Technology Assessment. Of particular note is the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme, its longest running, which undertakes both conventional HTA in the form of Evidence Synthesis and modelling, and evidence generation with a large portfolio of pragmatic

RCTs The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society (RCTS) is a national society founded in Cheltenham, England in 1928 to bring together those interested in rail transport and locomotives. Since 1929 the Society has published a regular journal ''Th ...

and

cohort studies A cohort study is a particular form of longitudinal study that samples a cohort (a group of people who share a defining characteristic, typically those who experienced a common event in a selected period, such as birth or graduation), performing ...

. The programme's research is regularly published in NIHR's journal Health Technology Assessment. Also in the UK, the Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre for Healthcare carries out HTA in collaboration with the health service, the NHS and various industrial partners. MATCH is organised into four themes addressing key HTA topics including Health Economics, Tools for Industry, User Needs and Procurement and Supply chain.

Canada

Canada also has a health technology assessment body called the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH)

Italy

As of today, 11 Italian Regions have issued specific regional laws or regulations to manage HTA activities and processes at regional level: Abruzzo, Basilicata, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardia, Piemonte, Puglia, Sicilia, Toscana, and Veneto. In another 4 Regions (Calabria, Marche, Umbria, and Valle D’Aosta) and in the 2 autonomous Provinces of Bolzano and Trento, HTA is performed at different levels, even if no legislation has been produced yet. The World Health organisation provides an overview of countries and their corresponding HTA agencies.

References

External links

Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi)

International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA)
{{Evidence-based practice Impact assessment Medical technology Technology assessment Life sciences industry