A Conceptual Framework for Life-Cycle Health Technology Assessment.

Objectives: Health technology assessment (HTA) uses evidence appraisal and synthesis with economic evaluation to inform adoption decisions. Standard HTA processes sometimes struggle to (1) support decisions that involve significant uncertainty and (2) encourage continued generation of and adaptation to new evidence. We propose the life-cycle (LC)-HTA framework, addressing these challenges by providing additional tools to decision makers and improving outcomes for all stakeholders.

Evaluating facts and facting evaluations: On the fact-value relationship in HTA.

Health technology assessment (HTA) is an evaluation of health technologies in terms of facts and evidence. However, the relationship between facts and values is still not clear in HTA. This is problematic in an era of "fake facts" and "truth production.

USING THE INTEGRATE-HTA GUIDANCE: EXPERIENCE FROM CADTH.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe an initial exploration by CADTH, Canada's pan-Canadian health technology assessment (HTA) agency, in using the INTEGRATE-HTA guidance in the production of an HTA that examined the use of both in-center and in-home dialysis modalities for the treatment of end-stage kidney disease in adults in Canada.

Methods And Results: We outline CADTH's standard HTA production process and context and then describe the experience of the assessment team in using the INTEGRATE-HTA guidance, specifically to help structure and guide the use of a logic model, the identification of implementation issues, and the identification and examination of ethical issues. For each of the aspects, we describe and reflect on how the assessment team used the guidance, challenges that were encountered in its use, and whether and how we might address these challenges when using the INTEGRATE-HTA guidance in the future.

The nature and influence of pharmaceutical industry involvement in asthma trials.

Background: Pharmaceutical industry-sponsored research has been shown to be biased toward reporting positive results. Frequent industry participation in trials assessing the efficacy of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) and long-acting beta2<⁄span>-agonist (LABA) combination treatment makes assessing industry influence difficult and warrants an assessment of specific potential publication bias in this area.

Objective: To describe the frequency of industry involvement in ICS⁄LABA trials and explore associations among significant outcomes, type of industry involvement and type of primary outcome.

Procedural sedation and analgesia in a Canadian ED: a time-in-motion study.

Introduction: Some patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) suffer from conditions requiring potentially painful treatment; procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) are important components of their management. The purpose of this study was to determine the resources used during the administration of PSA.

Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted in a Canadian urban teaching center.