Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is a systematic process used to evaluate health technologies such as medical treatments, devices, and procedures. Its main goal is to inform recommendations about which technologies should be adopted in healthcare systems. HTA considers various factors, including clinical effectiveness, safety, economic impact, ethical considerations, and social implications, helping ensure that the technologies used in healthcare are both beneficial and cost-effective.

Key principles of HTA

HTA recommendations are based on four ethical principles:

  • Autonomy: Respecting individuals' rights to make recommendations about their own health.
  • Non-maleficence: A duty to avoid causing  harm intentionally.
  • Beneficence: Maximising benefits while minimizing potential risks.
  • Justice: Ensuring a fair distribution of all basic benefits and burdens.  

Based on: Kristensen FB, Matzen P, Madsen PB, . Health technology assessment of the diagnosis of colorectal cancer in a public health service system. Seminars in Colon & Rectal Surgery; 2002;13(1):96-102.

 

How HTA Works

HTA involves multiple scientific disciplines to evaluate technologies at various stages, from development to post-market use. The process includes:

  • Policy analysis to understand healthcare priorities.
  • Evidence-based medicine to assess clinical effectiveness.
  • Health economic evaluation to analyse costs and benefits.
  • Social and humanistic sciences to explore broader societal and ethical implications.

This process takes into account various factors such as clinical effectiveness, safety, costs, and ethical, social, and legal implications. The value of a health technology can vary depending on perspective and context, and HTA can be applied at different stages of a technology’s lifecycle, including pre-market, during market approval, post-market, and even disinvestment.

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An international group, co-led by INAHTA and HTAi, developed a new, widely accepted definition of HTA in May 2020 [1]  and includes important clarifying information provided in four accompanying notes[2]
“A multidisciplinary process that uses explicit methods to determine the value of a health technology at different points in its lifecycle. The purpose is to inform decision-making in order to promote an equitable, efficient, and high-quality health system.”


Note 1: A health technology is an intervention developed to prevent, diagnose or treat medical conditions; promote health; provide rehabilitation; or organize healthcare delivery. The intervention can be a test, device, medicine, vaccine, procedure, program, or system (definition from the HTA Glossary: HtaGlossary.net | health technology).

Note 2: The process is formal, systematic and transparent, and uses state-of-the-art methods to consider the best available evidence.

Note 3: The dimensions of value for a health technology may be assessed by examining the intended and unintended consequences of using a health technology compared to existing alternatives. These dimensions often include clinical effectiveness, safety, costs and economic implications, ethical, social, cultural and legal issues, organisational and environmental aspects, as well as wider implications for the patient, relatives, caregivers, and the population. The overall value may vary depending on the perspective taken, the stakeholders involved, and the decision context.

Note 4: HTA can be applied at different points in the lifecycle of a health technology — pre-market, during market approval, post-market, through to the disinvestment of a health technology.

 


🔖Here is the link to the definition on the HTA Glossary: HtaGlossary.net | health technology assessment

🔍 Want to explore the origins of the first standardised HTA model (EUnetHTA)? Click here to learn more!


[1] The new definition of health technology assessment: A milestone in international collaboration | International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care | Cambridge Core Available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-technology-assessment-in-health-care/article/new-definition-of-health-technology-assessment-a-milestone-in-international-collaboration/8A3BA65D279F3FDAA83ADB3D08CF8C17

[2] Assessment FAQ - EUnetHTA

[3]  Kristensen FB et al. (2017). The HTA Core Model® – 10 Years of Developing an International Framework to Share Multidimensional Value Assessment. Value in Health, 20(2):244–50. Available at: (PDF) The HTA Core Model®—10 Years of Developing an International Framework to Share Multidimensional Value Assessment (researchgate.net)