Survey to assess current methods used globally in
health technology assessment and health care reimbursement
The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) is an international non-profit society promoting the science of pharmacoeconomics and health outcomes research.
The Society is organized to act as a scientific leader relevant to research in pharmacoeconomics, health outcomes assessment, and related issues of health policy. ISPOR has over 3300 members from 79 countries and 15 Chapters around the world.
The International Society represents healthcare researchers and practitioners worldwide including pharmacists, physicians, economists, nurses and researchers from academia, pharmaceutical industry, government, managed care, health research organizations, and purchasers of healthcare. The ISPOR mission is to translate pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research into practice to ensure that society allocates scarce healthcare resources wisely, fairly, and efficiently.
Health technology assessment (HTA) is increasingly playing an important role in informing reimbursement and pricing decisions and providing clinical guidance on use of medical technologies across the world. In addition to safety and efficacy information, health economic and outcomes research data are also receiving great attention in these assessments in many countries with third party payers seeking better value for money spent on treatments. HTA has had various definitions over the years and across countries but as defined herein, it is ‘the careful evaluation of a medical or health technology for evidence of its safety, efficacy, cost, cost-effectiveness and ethical and legal implications, both in absolute terms and in comparison with other competing technologies.’(1)
It is the goal of the ISPOR Health Technology Assessment in Evidence-Based Decisions Special Interest Group (HTA in EBD SIG) to contribute to international health technology assessment and reimbursement research standards and methods, and create a forum for communication between researchers, payers and the scientific and academic communities at large. The following survey has been prepared by the HTA & Good Research Practices for Reimbursement Decisions Working Group of this SIG.
The objective of this survey is to capture information on the current methods and applications of health technology assessments across worldwide HTA agencies and reimbursement bodies. Some of the survey questions have been adapted from prior surveys (2, 3, 4, 5) with the aim to obtained updated and consistent information for all countries whereas others have been designed to capture new information not previously available. This international survey will collect information from identified organizations across countries in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The survey will collect information on HTA methods for assessments of (i) drugs, (ii) medical devices, and (iii) other health technologies (e.g. surgical or medical procedures, administrative system). Results from this survey will be published in peer-reviewed journals as well as made available on the ISPOR website. We thank you for your time and consideration in participating in this survey.
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- Perry S. Technology assessment in health care: The US perspective. Health Policy, 9, (1988) 17-24.
- Perry S and Thamer M. Health Technology Assessment: Decentralized and fragmented in the US compared to other countries. Health Policy, 42, (1997) 269-290.
- Relative Effectiveness Assessments in the European Union, an overview. Secretariat Working
Group on Relative Effectiveness Assessments, Pharmaceutical Forum, European Commission.
- International HTA Survey. Department of Health, People of South Africa
- Hutton et al. International Journal of Technology Assessment In Healthcare 22:1, 2007