In the theme section on information retrieval for health technology assessment (HTA), we are pleased to present a series of high-quality articles. The articles address various approaches to HTA searching and information management. Information retrieval and management is an integral part of the HTA review process. Those conducting searches must, therefore, understand the nature of the different...

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES The health technology assessment (HTA) process has been developed locally. The aim of this study was to describe, analyze and compare the opinions of participants in international health economics symposia about the HTA process used in Brazil. DESIGN AND SETTING Observational cross-sectional study at the 2006 and 2008 International Health Economics Symposia, in São Paul...

OBJECTIVES Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is defined as a policy research approach that examines the short- and long-term social consequences of the application or use of technology. Internationally different institutions have translated this definition to local contexts. In Denmark, HTA is comprehensive with focus on four aspects of the problem in question (technology [clinical evidence], ...

Health technology assessment (HTA) has received increasing support over the past twenty years in both North America and Europe. The justification for this field of policy-oriented research is that evidence about the efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of technology should contribute to decision and policy making. However, concerns about the ability of HTA producers to increase the use of t...

Independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) are a key means by which national governments have responded to the challenge of ensuring equitable public access to a new range of medicines and treatment options within the context of limited national budgets for healthcare. In this paper, we apply a regulatory governance frame to the study of the Swedish process fo...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to assess the potential impact of the implementation of multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) on the Polish pricing and reimbursement (P&R) process with regard to orphan drugs. METHODS A four step approach was designed. Firstly, a systematic literature review was conducted to select the MCDA criteria. Secondly, a database of orphan drugs was est...

to provide an overview of the development of health technology assessment (hta) in iran since 2007, and to facilitate further development of hta and its integration into policy making.data of this study were collected through key documents (e.g. literature, laws, and other official documentation) and analyzed by experts of opinion in form of qualitative methods.health technology assessment ente...

daniels, porteny and urrutia et al make a good case for the idea that that public decisions ought to be made not only “in the light of” evidence but also “on the basis of” budget impact, financial protection and equity. health technology assessment (hta) should, they say, be accordingly expanded to consider matters additional to safety and cost-effectiveness. they also complain that most hta re...

Solving linear systems is an important problem for scientific computing. Exploiting parallelism is essential for solving complex systems, and this traditionally involves writing parallel algorithms on top of a library such as MPI. The SPIKE family of algorithms is one well-known example of a parallel solver for linear systems. The Hierarchically Tiled Array data type extends traditional data-pa...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to develop criteria for the prioritization of topics for health technology assessment (HTA) in the healthcare system of Kazakhstan. METHODS Initial proposals for criteria were suggested through consultation with Ministry of Health (MoH) policy areas. These were refined through a workshop attended by HTA department staff, persons from medical universities a...