Since the 1990s, health policy makers in Finland have been supportive of evidence-based medicine and approaches to implement its results. The Finnish Office for Health Technology Assessment (Finohta) has grown from a small start in 1995 to a medium-sized health technology assessment (HTA) agency, with special responsibility in providing assessments to underpin national policies in screening. Ex...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this article is to describe and analyze the stages toward recognition and implementation of health technology assessment (HTA). METHODS System analysis of structures and institutions and their use of HTA. RESULTS Austria is a latecomer in implementing evaluations/HTA as decision support. It can to a certain degree absorb the increasing international knowledge. Austria ...

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...

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...

OBJECTIVES The current and past situation of health technology assessment (HTA) in Catalonia is presented in this study. METHODS The approach used here is a historical review of facts and landmarks. RESULTS Spain has undergone radical change in many aspects, but the changes in healthcare provision have been major indeed. Catalonia has had the ability to benefit from these changes and has be...

Lessons from health technology assessment (HTA) organizations around the world are emerging, and only some of them are about evidence. Other lessons pertain to governance, communication, trust, politics, and the persistence of local “practice patterns” for evidence evaluations. This should not come as a surprise. HTA organizations worldwide have different constituencies and organizational struc...

INTRODUCTION Community health needs assessments (CHNA) are completed to meet varied regulatory and statutory requirements for local public health departments, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) hospitals, and Federally Qualified Health Centers. Although compliance is a motivating factor, these entities are committed to understanding the communities they serve and to developing strategies to address health ne...

There seems to be a general agreement amongst practitioners of economic evaluations, including Health Technology Assessment, that the explicit statement of a perspective is a necessary element in designing and reporting research. Moreover, there seems also to be a general presumption that the ideal perspective is “societal”. In this paper we endorse the first principle but dissent from the seco...

Health impact assessment (HIA) has many advocates for its use to identify and optimize the health effects of non-healthcare interventions. It is an assessment of the health effects, positive and negative, of a project, programme, or policy. Expertise developed in the United Kingdom from a realization that health impacts are often overlooked during the planning stages of development projects but...

BACKGROUND In the field of health technology assessment (HTA), there are several approaches that can be used for ethical analysis. However, there is a scarcity of literature that critically evaluates and compares the strength and weaknesses of these approaches when they are applied in practice. In this paper, we analyse the applicability of some selected approaches for addressing ethical issues...