HTA Resources
Definitions
Healthcare technology is defined as prevention and rehabilitation, vaccines, pharmaceuticals and devices, medical and surgical procedures, and the systems within which health is protected and maintained.
Technology assessment in health care is a multidisciplinary field of policy analysis. It studies the medical, social, ethical, and economic implications of development, diffusion, and use of health technology.
Impact framework
INAHTA has developed a framework for reporting. INAHTA members are requested to provide information on HTAs, for which there are some indication of impact on decisions by government at the regional, national or international level. Positive, interim and negative indications of impact are all welcome. The HTA-impact form and instructions can be downloaded below.
INAHTA_Impact_framework_form-instructions.pdf
INAHTA_Impact_framework_form.doc
HTA agencies and decision makers
This document has been prepared to provide guidance on the interaction of health technology assessment agencies with the decision makers whom they inform through their assessments. The perspective taken generally reflects that of the member organizations of INAHTA, which are primarily concerned with informing decision makers in the public sector.
Download the document here
Strategies for the diffusion and dissemination of health technology assessment (HTA) products (AVALIA-T, Spain)
At present there are many organisations in the world engaged in health technology assessment (HTA) and all produce documents targeted at helping decision-making in the introduction of new technologies and appropriate use of existing technologies. These documents are published in the form of assessment reports (ARs), technical reports (TRs), technological briefing (TBs) and clinical practice guidelines (CPGs), among others. Despite the importance and repercussion of these studies, locating them does not tend to be an easy task due to their not being indexed in traditional bibliographic databases, which is why effective dissemination of such information assumes special relevance.
Download the report here
Report on Handling Ethical Issues in HTA
The report was produced by the INAHTA Working Group on Ethical Issues. The results of a 2003 survey among INAHTA organizations on ethical issues revealed some differences with respect to how the ethical issues are dealt with as part of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) process. These differences have to be taken into account.
The most important part of ethics in HTA has to do with the consequences of applying the technology to be assessed. However, there are also ethical questions related to the HTA analysis itself, including the starting point of choice of an area to be looked at.
Find the report and other publications related to Ethics in HTA here
CRD’s guidance for undertaking reviews in health care
Systematic Reviews: CRD’s guidance for undertaking reviews in health care provides practical guidance for undertaking evidence synthesis based on a thorough understanding of systematic review methodology. It presents the core principles of systematic reviewing, and in complementary chapters, highlights issues that are specific to reviews of clinical tests, public health interventions, adverse effects, and economic evaluations. The final chapter discusses the incorporation of qualitative research in or alongside effectiveness reviews.
Click here to go to the report
"Handbook on Health Technology Assessment Capacity Building - Systems to support Health Technology Assessment (HTA) in Member States with limited institualisation of HTA"
This handbook is a main deliverable of Work Package 8 (WP8) of the European Network for Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA) project and it has been developed by a group of experts that are partners of WP8 and co-ordinated by the Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Research (CAHTA).
Handbook on HTA Capacity Building
From the ECHTA/ECAHI Summary report
Health technology assessment (HTA) seeks to inform health policy makers by using the best scientific evidence on the medical, social, economic and ethical implications of investments in health care. Technology is broadly defined to include the drugs, devices, medical and surgical procedures used in health care, as well as measures for prevention and rehabilitation of disease, and the organisational and support systems in which health care is provided.
Assessment includes:
- Identifying evidence, or lack of evidence, on the benefits and costs of health interventions
- Synthesising health research findings about the effectiveness of different health interventions
- Evaluating the economic implications and analysing cost and cost-effectiveness
- Appraising social and ethical implications of the diffusion and use of health technologies as well as their organisational implications
- The HTA process helps identify best practices in health care, thereby enhancing safety, improving quality and saving costs.
Resources for HTA - HTAi and INAHTA’s White Paper to WHO
This overview on Resources for HTA was requested by WHO and developed by HTAi in collaboration with INAHTA. The paper describes the important role that HTA can play in decisions about health policy and practice in developed and developing countries. It summarizes the present state of HTA around the world and the potential for and extent of international collaboration. HTA is presented as a tool for bridging the know-do gap in health care management, recognizing common and contrasting challenges of improving the use of HTA in developed and developing countries. Finally, the paper describes the roles of HTAi and INAHTA and their collaborative efforts to promote the use of HTA around the world.
HTAi Information Resources Vortal
The HTAi Information Resources Vortal comprises a large and growing group of HTA-related web site links organized according to HTA-related subject category. The HTAi Information Resources Group is committed to continuously building on its contents to ensure that this dynamic HTA resource contains the latest information. Visit the HTAi vortal
Early Warning Systems
Early identification and assessment system for new and emerging health care technologies, also called early warning system (EWS) or horizon scanning. Read more about early warning.
Skills Development Program
The HTA unit at IHE (Alberta, Canada) provides the opportunity for health care professionals who wish to learn the methods of health technology assessment to do so in a six month long skills development program.
A program description, objectives, and external review of the program is available on IHE's website
Reports (suggested reading)
This is a list of reports or papers produced by people and agencies in INAHTA, which could be relevant for people interested in HTA.
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Health Technology Assessment: An Introduction to Objectives, Role of Evidence, and Structure in Europe.
Velasco-Garrido M, Busse R. Copenhagen, WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2005 (European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies policy brief series). |
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Guidelines for the Economic Evaluation of Health Technologies: Canada.
CADTH. 3rd Edition, 2006. |
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An Exploratory Review of Evaluations of Health Technology Assessment Agencies.
Wanke M, Juzwishin D, Thornley R, Chan L. AHFMR, 2006:16. |
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Risk Management for Health Technology Assessment Programs.
Hailey D, Juzwishin D. AHFMR, 2005:31. |
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Health Technology Assessment on the Net: A Guide to Internet Sources of Information. Eleventh edition, Dennett L, Chatterley T. IHE, 2008 |
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Elements of Effectiveness for Health Technology Assessment Programs.
Hailey D. AHFMR, 2003:09. |