An integrated approach to the assessment of health technologies

Introduction The perspective on health technology assessment (HTA) is gradually changing from a „one-size-fits-all“-approach towards a process that assesses health technologies considering also the local context, variability in the target population, the perspectives of different stakeholders, and various ways of implementation. The EU-funded FP7 project “Integrated health technology assessment for evaluating complex technologies“ (INTEGRATE-HTA) developed concepts and methods for HTA to enable a patient-centred, integrated assessment of the effectiveness, and the economic, social, cultural, legal, and ethical issues of complex health technologies that takes context and implementation into account. The approach is based on consultation with various stakeholders throughout the HTA-process. The practical guidances resulting from this project are available via www.integrate-hta.eu. Structure of the workshop At the beginning of the workshop participants will receive an introduction into the concepts and the methods of an integrated process for assessing health technologies. Two case studies will be presented: An HTA on home-based palliative care that was undertaken as a demonstration case during the project INTEGRATE-HTA and an HTA by the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) that used the methods developed by INTEGRATE-HTA to assess home hemodialysis versus in-centre dialysis. Participants are then invited to bring forward HTA-topics they are currently working on or planning to do so. Participants who do not have a current HTA-project are invited to join others so that groups (3-5 participants) can work together. Each group will be supported by one of the facilitators of the workshop. Outcome Each group will develop the conceptual basis for doing an integrated HTA on a subject they have chosen. The INTEGRATE-HTA process model will be applied. It starts by defining the health issue, the technology (and possible comparators), and the objective of the HTA. In a second step the context, issues related to the implementation of the technology, and the main target groups will be identified and structured by a system-based logic model. The following steps, including the actual assessment will be projected. For reasons of time it will not be part of the workshop. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on what would need to be done in their own HTA agency/system to help "ready“ their agency or system for using the INTEGRATE-approach, e.g. the challenges they might face and how these might be overcome. Participants will leave the workshop with a conceptual framework and a draft workplan for an integrated HTA. A similar workshop has been successfully conducted with staff members of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), the supreme decision-making body in statutory health care in Germany. Objective At the end of the workshop participants will be familiar with conceptualising HTAs that deliver an integrated perspective on the assessment of health technologies, which takes the local context, implementation issues, the variability within the target population and the perspectives of different stakeholders into account. Audience: This workshop offers any introduction on how to conduct integrated HTA for those who are familiar with HTA. No specific knowledge or expertise is required.