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...

As more countries use HTA to inform decisions on the reimbursement of health technologies, harmonization of evidence requirements between jurisdictions has been proposed, mainly on the grounds of improved efficiency. Harmonization has the potential to avoid duplication of effort for both manufacturers and HTA bodies involved in preparing and reviewing HTA submissions for innovative technologies...

Cad. Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, 29 Sup:S4-S6, 2013 Health technology assessment (HTA) focuses on understanding the clinical, economic, environmental, social, political, and legal implications of new technologies, or changes in established ones. This multidisciplinary field can provide various decision-makers with hierarchical analyses of the available options for health policy implementatio...

OBJECTIVES To provide an overview of the development of health technology assessment (HTA) in Germany since the 1990s. METHODS Analysis of key documents (e.g. literature, laws, and other official documentation) and personal experiences. RESULTS Health technology assessment (HTA) entered the political agenda in Germany only in the mid-1990s, basically as the result of a top-down approach tow...

OBJECTIVES Health technology assessment (HTA) has to innovate to best support changing health system environments and to help provide access to valuable innovation under fiscal constraint. METHODS Issues associated with changing HTA paradigms were identified through scoping and explored through deliberation at a meeting of industry and HTA leaders. RESULTS Five broad areas of change (engage...

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...

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...

Few recent issues in drug development and health systems management have generated more commentary, and more controversy, than health technology assessment (HTA). The keen interest in HTA stems from the high stakes involved. For regardless of differences in definition and application, it is clear that HTA brings together public and private interests in a process in which there are potentially w...