Optimising child and adolescent mental health care - a scoping review of international best-practice strategies and service models.

Background: Psychiatric disorders are among the most common health problems in children and adolescents, with a recent prevalence rise due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The increasing demand for service provision in this patient population, together with infrastructural, financial and staff limitations in child and adolescent mental health services, calls for an adaptation/advancement of current models of service provision. This review offers an internationally informed overview of best-practice child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) strategies and care models, with the aim of assisting decision-makers in implementing topical CAMH care models.

Digital Health Applications (DiHA): Approaches to develop a reimbursement process for the statutory health insurance in Austria.

Purpose: To elaborate a concept for implementing digital health applications (DiHA), including prioritisation criteria (PC) for the Austrian context and an overview of available prioritised DiHAs.

Methods: Based on European DiHA-listings and input by Austrian experts, a categorised meta-directory of DiHAs was created. PC were developed to reflect, inter alia, the provisions of the Austrian General Insurance Act, and were applied to the meta-directory to identify DiHAs potentially relevant for the Austrian statutory health insurance.

Wearable cardioverter defibrillator for preventing sudden cardiac death in patients at risk: An updated systematic review of comparative effectiveness and safety.

Objectives: To synthesise the available evidence of wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) therapy as an add-on measure to optimal medical therapy (OMT) or as a replacement of hospital stay.

Methods: An update systematic review (SR) of comparative effectiveness and safety of WCD therapy was conducted. We included randomised controlled trials (RCT), prospective comparative studies and prospective uncontrolled studies with at least 100 patients.

Subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator: a systematic review of comparative effectiveness and safety.

This systematic review evaluated the clinical effectiveness and safety of subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (S-ICD) in patients at an increased risk of sudden cardiac death and with an ICD indication for primary or secondary prevention. A systematic literature search was conducted in four databases (Medline via Ovid, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and HTA-INAHTA). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled observational studies with ≥100 S-ICD patients and a low to moderate risk of bias were eligible for inclusion.

Clinical effectiveness and safety of self-expandable implantable bulking agents for faecal incontinence: a systematic review.

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate whether self-expandable implantable vs non-self-expandable injectable bulking agents (second-line therapies) are equal/superior in terms of effectiveness (severity, quality of life [QoL]) and safety (adverse events) for faecal incontinence (FI).

Methods: A systematic review was conducted, and five databases were searched (Medline via Ovid, Embase, Cochrane Library, University of York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, and International Network of Agencies for Health Technology database). In-/exclusion criteria were predefined according to the PICOS scheme.

EUnetHTA relative effectiveness assessments: efforts to increase usability, transparency and inclusiveness.

Objectives: The objective of the European Network for Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA) Joint Action 3 (JA3) was to develop a sustainable European model for future collaboration on HTA, by reducing duplication in HTA production and increasing patient access to health technologies. Compared to the previous JA2, several procedural changes were made aiming to increase usability, transparency, and inclusiveness of relative effectiveness assessments (REAs). This article presents and highlights these changes, explains their rationale as well as their influence on HTA production.

Additive Effect of Dopaminergic Medication on Gait Under Single and Dual-Tasking Is Greater Than of Deep Brain Stimulation in Advanced Parkinson Disease With Long-Duration Deep Brain Stimulation.

Introduction: Patients with advanced Parkinson disease (PD) often experience problems with mobility, including walking under single- (ST) and dual-tasking (DT) conditions. The effects of deep brain stimulation in the subthalamic nucleus (DBS) versus dopaminergic medication (Med) on these conditions are not well investigated.

Materials And Methods: We used two ST and two DT-gait paradigms to evaluate the effect of DBS and dopaminergic medication on gait parameters in 14 PD patients (mean age 66 ± 8 years) under DBS/Med, DBS/Med, and DBS/Med conditions.

Reimbursement decisions for medical services in Austria: an analysis of influencing factors for the hospital individual services catalogue between 2008 and 2020.

Objectives: To (1) describe the (evidence-based) reimbursement process of hospital individual services, (2) evaluate the accordance between evidence-based recommendations and reimbursement decision of individual services and (3) elaborate potential aspects that play a role in the decision-making process in Austria.

Method: The reimbursement process is described based on selected relevant sources such as official documents. Evidence-based recommendations and subsequent reimbursement decisions for the annual maintenance of the hospital individual service catalogue in Austria between 2008 and 2020 were analysed using a mixed methods approach, encompassing descriptive statistics and a focus group with Austrian decision makers.

Synthesizing quantitative and qualitative information on multiple comparisons of health interventions to facilitate knowledge transfer: an example from an EUnetHTA multi-HTA.

Objective: Presenting an approach to synthesize quantitative and qualitative information from systematic reviews of multiple health interventions.

Methods: Within the context of an EUnetHTA multi-health technology assessment of twenty-three surgical techniques, we developed synthetic single tables, using color gradients and abbreviations, with information on which technologies had been compared, estimates of the size of differences for available comparisons, their clinical relevance, and certainty of the related evidence.

Results: The proposed methodology provided, through a single depiction, information normally included in multiple figures/tables such as network plots, league tables, and summary of findings tables.

Effectiveness of music therapy for autism spectrum disorder, dementia, depression, insomnia and schizophrenia: update of systematic reviews.

Background: Music therapy (MT) aims at maintaining, restoring and furthering physical/emotional/mental health. This review assesses effectiveness of MT and its methods for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), dementia, depression, insomnia and schizophrenia.

Methods: A search for systematic reviews and health technology assessment reports was conducted and yielded 139 hits.

Real-world experience with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 monotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer : A retrospective Austrian multicenter study.

Objective: As real-world data regarding immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer are lacking for Austria, we conducted a retrospective study in six hospitals to present data from real-world practice.

Methods: Patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer were stratified into two groups, either patients with first-line pembrolizumab monotherapy (cohort 1) or patients with second-line nivolumab, pembrolizumab or atezolizumab monotherapy (cohort 2). Primary outcome measures were objective response rate and overall survival.

Health technology assessment applied to emergency preparedness: a new perspective.

Emergency preparedness is a continuous quality improvement process through which roles and responsibilities are defined to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recover from the impact of emergencies. This process results in documented plans that provide a backbone structure for developing the core capacities to address health threats. Nevertheless, several barriers can impair an effective preparedness planning, as it needs a 360° perspective to address each component according to the best evidence and practice.

Extracorporeal Cytokine Adsorption Therapy As a Preventive Measure in Cardiac Surgery and As a Therapeutic Add-On Treatment in Sepsis: An Updated Systematic Review of Comparative Efficacy and Safety.

Objectives: Evaluating whether there is a clinical benefit of using extracorporeal cytokine adsorption therapy in two indications.

Design: Systematic review.

Setting: Search on four databases, Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and the European Network for Health Technology Assessment planned and ongoing projects database.

EU FP7 research funding for an orphan drug (Orfadin®) and vaccine (Hep C) development: a success and a failure?

Background: We considered the extent of the contribution of publicly funded research to the late-stage clinical development of pharmaceuticals and medicinal products, based on the European Commission (EC) FP7 research funding programme. Using two EC FP7-HEALTH case study examples-representing two types of outcomes-we then estimated wider public and charitable research funding contributions.

Methods: Using the publicly available database of FP7-HEALTH funded projects, we identified awards relating to late-stage clinical development according to the systematic application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, classified them according to product type and clinical indication, and calculated total EC funding amounts.

Patient involvement in relative effectiveness assessments in the European Network for Health Technology Assessment.

Patient involvement in the process of producing health technology assessments has become increasingly important. In the European Network for Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA), several approaches to patient involvement were explored. The outcome was a document on "Patient Input in Relative Effectiveness Assessments" that is available for access and was published in 2019.

Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of Allografts and Autografts in Posterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Surgery: A Systematic Review.

Purpose: To evaluate the evidence of the effectiveness and safety of allografts compared to autografts in posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Methods: Four electronic databases were systematically searched for eligible randomized controlled studies. Crucial effectiveness outcomes included patient-reported function, activity level and symptoms, clinical knee stability, health-related quality of life, and patient satisfaction.

Allograft for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction (ACLR): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Long-Term Comparative Effectiveness and Safety. Results of a Health Technology Assessment.

Purpose: To evaluate whether allograft anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) is superior or inferior to autograft ACLR or conservative management in terms of effectiveness and safety.

Methods: A systematic review of the evidence for allograft ACLR was conducted. Randomized controlled trials with a minimum mean follow-up time of 5 years were included.