Introduction Most European countries use Health Technology Assessment (HTA) as input for decisions on reimbursement of (new) medicines. In 2018, following the approval Social Funding, Directorate Pharmaceutical Affairs (DPA) within Malta Ministry led a specific Work Package aimed at enhancing knowledge, skills and HTA processes to inform decisions. Methods Since start project, Institute Medical...

A perceived gap exists in how well Canadian health technology assessment (HTA) producers are supporting the use of their HTAs by decision-makers. The authors propose that the newly released HTA Database Canadian search interface incorporate structured decision-relevant summaries of HTAs that would be developed by participating Canadian HTA organizations. The registry would serve as a "one-stop ...

OBJECTIVES A mapping exercise was undertaken to determine how HTA is being described and conducted across the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA), with the aim of harmonizing terminologies and approaches. METHODS Three progressive surveys were undertaken. In 2010, INAHTA agencies were asked to provide details on all of their HTA products. In 2013, addit...

OBJECTIVES To describe how Lithuania is attempting to develop health technology assessment (HTA) structures. METHODS The case study of the history of development of HTA in Lithuania is presented. RESULTS Historical steps of HTA development are as follows: in 1993, a few conferences on HTA; eight people were trained in Sweden at SBU; the book First Steps of HTA in Lithuania (5) was issued to...

BACKGROUND Public and patient involvement in the different stages of the health technology assessment (HTA) process is increasingly encouraged. The selection of topics for assessment, which includes identifying and prioritizing HTA questions, is a constant challenge for HTA agencies because the number of technologies requiring an assessment exceeds the resources available. Public and patient in...

We developed a novel Plasmodium falciparum genotyping strategy based on the heteroduplex tracking assay (HTA) method commonly used to genotype viruses. Because it can detect both sequence and size polymorphisms, we hypothesized that HTA is more sensitive than current methods. To test this hypothesis, we compared the ability of HTA and a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect genetic d...

When the late FreddieMercury penned these words (1), perhaps he had in mind bringing innovative medicines and devices to patients more quickly. The development pathway for these technologies is long and costly. Stakeholders agree, in principle, that efforts are needed to reduce the time it takes for patients to be able to access innovative treatments with appropriate subsidy or coverage. Accele...

BACKGROUND It is vitally important that there is a connection between health research and clinical practice. Indications as to the impact of the research on evidence-based practice and policy can be obtained by tracking the use of outputs of health research, especially its use in clinical guidelines (CGs). This study aims to assess the proportion of National Institute for Health and Care Excell...

BACKGROUND Health technology assessment (HTA) has been continuously used for value-based healthcare decisions over the last decade. Healthcare databases represent an important source of information for HTA, which has seen a surge in use in Western countries. Although HTA agencies have been established in Asia-Pacific region, application and understanding of healthcare databases for HTA is rathe...

OBJECTIVE To explore perceptions of the use of health technology assessment (HTA) in the Galician public health system, identify opinions on the usefulness of the products and services developed by the Galician Health Technology Assessment Agency (avalia-t), and determine the barriers and facilitators to the transfer of results to clinical practice. METHOD We performed a qualitative study bas...