OBJECTIVES Several studies have shown that a key determinant of successful health technology assessment (HTA) uptake is a clear, fair, and consistent decision-making process for the approval and introduction of health technologies. The aim of this study was to gauge healthcare providers' and managers' perceptions of local level decision making and determine whether these processes offer a condu...

OBJECTIVES This study is to review health technology assessment (HTA) development in China during the past two decades, and to facilitate further development of HTA and its integration into policy making. METHODS The study depends very much on the extensive experiences of the authors in involvement of HTA in China. In addition, literature review and Web site searching have been used to trace ...

One suggestion is to produce a version of Health Technology Trends, an American journal that resembles a Which? review of competing technologies, which could act as a clearing house for data on health technology assessment. Another national initiative should be to ensure that health technology assessment is given due prominence in the training of doctors and managers. Eventually, however, manag...

The principles ‘in dubio abstine’ and ‘primum non nocere’ are as least as old as the language they are written in, and have been made very concrete in criticisms on iatrogenesis, medicalization, polypharmacy and polypragmasy. Clinical decision analysis [1], health technology assessment, and critical appraisal of clinical evidence [2] have provided useful methods to translate these principles in...

BACKGROUND The effectiveness of complex interventions, as well as their success in reaching relevant populations, is critically influenced by their implementation in a given context. Current conceptual frameworks often fail to address context and implementation in an integrated way and, where addressed, they tend to focus on organisational context and are mostly concerned with specific health f...

a r t i c l e i n f o JEL classification: I13 D82 H51 Keywords: Universal basic health insurance Voluntary supplementary insurance Public vs. private insurance Adverse selection Moral hazard Cost effectiveness This paper introduces a tractable model of health insurance with both moral hazard and adverse selection. We show that government sponsored universal basic insurance should cover treatmen...

Improving health through better nutrition of the population may contribute to enhanced efficiency and sustainability of healthcare systems. A recent expert meeting investigated in detail a number of methodological aspects related to the discipline of nutrition economics. The role of nutrition in health maintenance and in the prevention of non-communicable diseases is now generally recognised. H...

OBJECTIVES We describe, in general, the principles used in priority setting and, in particular, policy processes and decision making in Norway. METHODS A newly established council for setting priorities in health care is presented to illustrate how health technology assessments (HTAs) can support national advisors in complex priority-setting processes. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Setting priori...

OBJECTIVES (1) Methodological research has few well-defined tools and processes analogous to those available for reviews and data collection in substantive health technology assessment. (2) This project was set up to obtain researchers' and others' views on the innovative projects on research methodology under the NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme and the usefulness of the research. (3...

In 2014, balanced assessment systems (BAS) were proposed as a resource-conscious, 'fit-for-purpose' form of health technology assessment for middle-income countries which lack resources and competences necessary for resource-intensive health technology assessment models. BAS has undergone extensive policy debate in the period since its publication but it has not been critically assessed in a st...