A systematic review of the early dialogue frameworks used within health technology assessment and their actual adoption from HTA agencies.

Introduction: Early advice in the process of developing health technologies allows manufacturers to plan their production and transfer to health care systems more accurately. This review aims to describe frameworks used within HTA and their current use by HTA Agencies.

Material And Methods: We carried out a systematic literature review in Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, and WoS, including all references published in Spanish and English.

Variability in the prescription of drugs with uncertain effectiveness. The case of SYSADOA in the Basque Country.

The majority of clinical practice guidelines do not recommend the use of SYSADOA (Symptomatic Slow Action Drugs for Osteoarthritis) for the treatment of osteoarthritis because of the lack of evidence or uncertainty around their efficacy. Nevertheless, the Spanish Public Health Service continues funding these drugs. The aim of this study is to describe the prescription status of SYSADOA in the primary care units of the Basque Country during 2011; to determine if variability exists among them; and to examine if the variability could be explained by the health care region each PC unit belongs to.

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT: REAL-WORLD EVIDENCE FOR PUBLIC HEALTHCARE SUSTAINABILITY.

Objectives: Health technology financing is often based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs), which are often the same ones used for licensing. Because they are designed to show the best possible results, typically Phase III studies are conducted under ideal and highly controlled conditions. Consequently, it is not surprising that technologies do not always perform in real life in the same way as controlled conditions.

Computed tomography versus invasive coronary angiography: design and methods of the pragmatic randomised multicentre DISCHARGE trial.

Objectives: More than 3.5 million invasive coronary angiographies (ICA) are performed in Europe annually. Approximately 2 million of these invasive procedures might be reduced by noninvasive tests because no coronary intervention is performed.

Early awareness and alert systems: an overview of EuroScan methods.

Objectives: Early awareness and alert (EAA) activities are increasingly recognized to be an important component of the health technology assessment (HTA) process. Sharing information on methods used in this discipline is vital to ensure the development of sustainable systems. The objectives of this study is to outline the approach taken to share the different methods that members of the EuroScan International Network use by producing a methods toolkit; and to provide an overview of the similarities and differences in methods adopted by EAA systems.

Differences in the identification process for new and emerging health technologies: analysis of the EuroScan database.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the EuroScan Database and to describe and compare the characteristics of the included technologies and participating agencies.

Methods: Data of interest were exported from the EuroScan Database to Excel and to SPSS. A descriptive analysis depending on the agency, type of technology, stage of diffusion, and technology purpose was conducted.

Scanning the horizon of obsolete technologies: possible sources for their identification.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify and rank the sources for the detection of potentially obsolete technologies (POTs).

Methods: A specific questionnaire related to the search strategies and sources used for the identification of POTs and also for ineffective, inefficient or harmful health technologies was sent to the Health Technology Assessment International's Information Resources Group (HTAi-IRG) group. With the obtained information and taking into account the sources used for the identification of new and emerging technologies, a second questionnaire was elaborated and sent to EuroScan and International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA) members, who had to select and score them.