History and structure
The Israeli Center for Technology Assessment in Health Care (ICTAHC) was established in 1998 at the Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research. It is an independent research center, and one of its major tasks is to advise the Israel Ministry of Health on national policy in technology management. The foundations for the Center were set by the Medical Technology Assessment Unit which has been operating since 1992. The Center is a multidisciplinary unit, comprised of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, economists, and other professionals.

Mission
ICTAHC's aims are:

1. To serve as a research center for medical technology assessment
2. To act as a national center for health technology management and to assist the Ministry of Health, public hospitals, private clinics, and the health funds to develop systematic processes to introduce new technologies
3. To identify health priorities at a national level
4. To serve as an educational center for students and policy makers within the universities in Israel
5. To maintain working relations with overseas counterparts while adapting information to Israel's cultural, social, and ethical values as well as its economic environment
6. To organize consensus conferences on national health issues.

How ICTAHC works
ICTAHC organizes special task forces in response to requests for systematic reviews made by the Ministry of Health and the major health funds.

Dissemination activities
ICTAHC provides university courses in the departments of medicine and administration. The Center plans to expand HTA training to healthcare professionals in hospitals and the health funds.

Current projects (a selection)

• Development of healthcare priorities in the application of medical technologies at a national level
• National model to manage and update the drug list (based on clinical and economic considerations
• Evaluation of utilization patterns of imaging in Israel
• Development of an information database on technology assessment in health care
• Model for systematic processing that excludes unnecessary medical technologies from the basic health services in Israel
• Antibiotic prescription in interal disease departments at the Sheba Medical Center - winter 1998-1999
• Establishing Quality of Life Tariffs for Health Issues in Israel
• Forecasting new medical technologies - establishing a professional and academic infrastructure for short, medium and long term evaluations
• Health Related Quality of Life in Diabetes Type II Patients in Israel
• Crystallizing a Strategy for Diabetes Care in Israel in the Next Decade
• Clinical Trials
• Mental health services - outlook of the State Comptroller and Ombudsman in Israel
• Molecular Epidemiology in Medicine
• OTC - Over-The-Counter Medication, Health and Economic Aspects of Transferring Self-Medication Drugs to OTC Purchase 
• The Appropriateness of Preliminary Conditions for Conducting Cervical Screening Tests
• Health-related quality of life in patients with psoriasis.

Future plans

• To promote and enhance research, education, cooperation, and exchange of information in the process of adapting and applying technologies in heath care
• To publish research projects, HTA reports, and newsletters
• To support and develop international collaboration in HTA
• To continue advising the Israel Ministry of Health on medical technology management policies in accordance with national needs and priorities.