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...

Nanotechnology is expected to play an increasingly important role in the diagnostics, prognostics, and management of targeted cancer treatments. While papers have described promising results for nanotechnology in experimental settings, the translation of fundamental research into clinical applications has yet to be widely adopted. In future, policy makers will need to anticipate new development...

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...

The paper approaches a new technological scenario relevant for the introduction of the digital cytology (D-CYT) in the health service. A detailed analysis of the state of the art on the status of the introduction of D-CYT in the hospital and more in general in the dispersed territory has been conducted. The analysis was conducted in a form of review and was arranged into two parts: the first pa...

OBJECTIVE To analyze evolution of the health technology assessment (HTA) at the national level in South Korea. METHODS Analysis of public documents, personal communication, and literative review. RESULTS HTA in South Korea has been developed since 1990s, first introduced by academia and institutionalized within the National Health Insurance (NHI). Rapidly increasing expenditure had been a c...

BACKGROUND Along with the global fervor over evidence based medicine (EBM), certain measures have been taken in Iran too. Many educational workshops and national and international seminars have been held. Multiple educational packages have been prepared and even included in the educational curriculum. In recent years, policies have been directed toward encouraging clinical guidelines, health te...

OBJECTIVES To assess the importance of ongoing trials in health technology assessment reviews (HTARs) for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence and to provide practical recommendations for identifying ongoing trials and assessing their possible impact. DATA SOURCES Electronic databases. REVIEW METHODS Ongoing trials (or trials in progress) were defined as any trials that have start...

OBJECTIVES Although ethics has been on the agenda in health technology assessment (HTA) since its inception, the integration of moral issues is still not standard and is performed in a vast variety of ways. Therefore, there is a need for a procedure for integrating moral issues in HTA. METHODS Literature review of existing approaches together with application of various theories in moral phil...

The new regulatory governance perspective has introduced several insights to the study of health technology assessment (HTA): it has broadened the scope for the analysis of HTA; it has provided a more sophisticated account of national diversity and the potential for cross-border policy learning; and, it has dissolved the distinction between HTA assessment and appraisal processes. In this paper,...