ViHTA 2: Valore in Health Technology Assessment. Un progetto di formazione e condivisione

This project stems from the results of a previous experience, the Value in Health Technology Assessment(ViHTA) project, which objective was to review the state of the art of Health Technology Assessment (HTA)methodology in the 20 Italian Regions. The study revealed a strong heterogeneity across Italian Regions in terms of: HTA methodology development maturity, implementation levels (macro-, meso-, micro-) and application scopes (vaccines, drugs, medical devices, etc). The ViHTA 2 project is based on the development and implementation of a specifi c program aimed at: strengthening the network of health professionals on HTA in Italy; promoting the harmonization of regional activities and professionals in the development of HTA methodology, through training activities and knowledge sharing and contextualization of European guidelines (European Network of HTA, EUnetHTA); make available and accessible to professionals and institutions peer review tools and data, aimed at improving the methodological quality of the assessments. The ViHTA2 project public health impact can be considered very successful as representatives of all Italian regions joined the training and also the network activities and the program considerably contributed to the spreading of HTA culture and to the homogenization of HTA practice. Economic healthcare assessments on general population are useful to allocate resources and healthcare administrative datasets are a valuable tool because they provide information on unselected large populations.