The contribution of French patient and consumer groups to health technology assessments over a 2-year period: an observational retrospective study.

Background: In 2017, The French National Authority for Health (HAS) created an open, online, systematic contribution process to enable patient and consumer groups (PCGs) to contribute to health technology assessment (HTA) carried out to aid public authorities in reimbursement and pricing decision making.

Objectives: This retrospective study analyzes how French PCGs contributed to the HTA process within the HAS for the first 2 years of this new mechanism.

Methods: PCG contributions received between 01 January 2017 and 31 December 2018 and the recording of deliberations leading to reports of the corresponding HTAs were included.

[Information and communication technology and health of the elderly].

New technologies offer many advantages, especially in terms of animation in elderly care homes. Consoles and digital tablets used without any medical implication were the subject of a literature review on their impact on the health of the elderly..

Regulation of healthcare ethics committees in Europe.

In this article, the question is discussed if and how Healthcare Ethics Committees (HECs) should be regulated. The paper consists of two parts. First, authors from eight EC member countries describe the status quo in their respective countries, and give reasons as to the form of regulation they consider most adequate.