austria_flag  Vienna, Austria

LBI-HTA_C.Wild_sm

“HTA is as much a culture of thinking as it is a method. Austrian decision makers have to be gradually convinced of HTA’s potential.”
– Dr. Claudia Wild, Director, AIHTA

 

History and Structure

The Austrian Institute for Health Technology Assessment (AIHTA) was founded in 2020 as successor of LBI-HTA, which operated for the past 14 years (2006-2020). The budget of the AIHTA is at € 1.36 million p.a. and is fully funded by the institutional partners. The funders of AIHT are the Austrian MoH, the Federation of Austrian social insurances and the health funds of the nine regions of Austria.

The funders define the annual research program in a process of more or less systematic priority setting. They committed themselves to put the results into practice. Because of the direct communication with the decision-maker the results show traceable impact. All projects engage an interdisciplinary team, they are presented and critically appraised at internal seminars and undergo an external review process. AIHTA is, as was LBI-HTA, strongly engaged in EUnetHTA and the coordination of collaboration.

Mission

The AIHTA regards itself as an independent entity for scientific decision-making support in the health sector.

  • We provide the scientific basis for decisions in favor of an efficient and appropriate use of resources.
  • Medical interventions are analyzed under a broad socially-relevant perspective and in the context of a qualitative concept of progress.
  • We see ourselves as an innovative and creative interdisciplinary think tank that has also included the further development of HTA methodology within its objectives.
  • Special importance is attached to the traceability of our results: systematic analysis and the disclosure of our methods make our results open to scrutiny.
  • We work at a distance to interest groups and refuse to fall within their influence, be they fund providers or market suppliers.
  • Intensive international networking allows us to avoid redundancies and to remain at the leading edge of knowledge.

Our mission statement can be summarized as follows:

  • Independence and distance to interest groups
  • Qualitative concept of progress
  • Multidisciplinary perspective
  • Accountable results due to stringent methods
  • International cooperation

Dissemination Activities

Research finding are disseminated in the form of reports downloadable free-of-charge from the AIHTA website and repository, articles in reviewed and non-reviewed journals as well as key messages to specific (medical) interest groups. Raising public awareness of HTA as a policy instrument is of paramount importance for the AIHTA. A monthly newsletter (2000 recipients) is published, public seminars are organized, presentations at the main national health care congresses and lectures at professional trainings are held in order to achieve the above aim.

Published, planned & ongoing projects:

https://aihta.at/page/currentprojects/en

Repository (free access & download):

http://eprints.aihta.at/

Future Thematic Focus (9 fields of research)

  • Oncology
  • Hospital, high-tech medicine
  • Rehabilitation and occupational therapy
  • Prevention and screening
  • Psychological and psychiatric interventions
  • Health economics
  • European collaboration
  • Advancement of HTA-methods

Agency Information

Country: Austria
Description of population served: National
Population served (mil): 8.8
Current HTA budget (mil USD): 1.5
Permanent staff: 18=15.5 FTE
Consultants: variable
Ongoing TA projects: 9-12

Contact Information

Director: PD Dr. Claudia Wild
Contact person: Ozren Sehic, M.A.

HTA Austria – Austrian Institute for Health Technology Assessment
Garnisongasse 7/rechte Steige Mezzanin (top 20)
A-1090 Vienna Austria

Tel: +43 1 23681191-0
Fax: +43 1 236811999
Internet: http://www.aihta.at
Email: claudia.wild@aihta.at , ozren.sehic@aihta.at