Abstract
Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is a formal, systematic, and transparent process that accomplishes a multidimensional, multidisciplinary, and multistakeholder evaluation of the direct and indirect effects of a health technology and determines its value compared to existing alternatives. The evidence provided by HTA informs decision-making to promote quality improvement and sustainability in the health system [1,2].
The key common features of HTA and PH were identified [3] to be the interdisciplinarity of activities, the variety of methods to produce evidence, and the primary purpose of moving from research to practice. The increasing burden of chronic conditions, as well as populations ageing, and the relentless technological innovation whose implications are complex to assess,
as in the case of artificial intelligence or genomic technologies, are burning trends generating the need to bridge HTA and PH [3].
In this environment of mounting pressure on health systems, decision-makers at all levels, generally encumbered by resource constraints, express demands for information on the effects of investing or disinvesting in technologies for health. Nevertheless, systematically addressing such demands requires an adequate human and organizational capacity for HTA [4]. In this light, PH policies and programs could benefit from the findings provided by HTA
in countries where the bodies performing HTA activities are linked to the responsible governmental policy-making organs [4]. Institutionalized HTA processes indeed facilitate the generation and gathering of evidence to support informed decisions in all fields of health, including PH [5].
Policies, programs, and interventions aimed at prospectively reducing the burden of diseases, such as those based on community-based prevention, can be subject to HTA, whether we aim to prevent communicable diseases, such as HIV infections in at-risk populations [6], or non-communicable ones, for which physical activity interventions may be studied [7]. Examples of PH interventions undergone HTA involve physical activity promotion for diabetes and
falls prevention, self-help groups and psychological interventions for fetal alcohol syndrome and child obesity, and community pharmacy interventions for smoking cessation [8]. The assessments take the form of reports, which can be classified according to their increasing comprehensiveness and scientific robustness in Rapid Reviews, Mini-HTAs, and HTA Reports [8]. Early HTAs should also be mentioned, used to inform industry and other stakeholders about the potential value of technologies in development, not yet applied (i.e.,
pre-marketing) [9]; Horizon Scanning, on the other hand, is used to identify, filtrate, and assess the future impact of new or emergent technologies and new applications of affirmed ones [10]. As Early HTAs are designed to evaluate health technologies even before they are brought into existence, they can support time-sensitive decisions, as in PH emergencies [11].
Taking the COVID-19 pandemic as an example, using HTA, the uncertainty attached to interventions with significant financial and/or social implications such as mass vaccination campaigns [12] and masking mandates [13] could be quantified and considered as a factor in the assessment processes, allowing for multi-disciplinary considerations.
Appropriately executed HTAs [14] can help prioritize funding of interventions that demonstrate the highest value, and defund those with the lowest. Transparency, accountability, reproducibility, and systematicity are factors of HTA processes which legitimize decisions and potentially instill public trust, especially in instances where participatory approaches are adopted, and every stakeholder is involved in a process of consensus-building.
In Countries whose constitutions hold the safeguarding of health as a fundamental principle and embrace solidarity in benefit-sharing in their social welfare vision, HTA serves the purpose o
Lingua originale | English |
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Titolo della pubblicazione ospite | 56th Days of preventive medicine international congress - Book of abstracts |
Pagine | 25-28 |
Numero di pagine | 4 |
Stato di pubblicazione | Pubblicato - 2024 |
Evento | 56th Days of preventive medicine international congress - Nis (Serbia) Durata: 24 set 2024 → 27 set 2024 |
Convegno
Convegno | 56th Days of preventive medicine international congress |
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Città | Nis (Serbia) |
Periodo | 24/9/24 → 27/9/24 |
Keywords
- Health Technology Assessment
- public health