1. Introduction

One of the fundamental roles of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is to evaluate the added therapeutic value of a new health technology compared to the current standard of care. HTA systematically assesses the properties, effects, and impacts of health technologies, considering both intended and unintended consequences.

The main purpose of HTA is to recommend technology-related policymaking in healthcare and for this reason, HTA is sometimes called ‘the bridge between evidence and policy making’.

HTA is conducted by interdisciplinary groups (called ‘HTA bodies’) using explicit analytical frameworks, drawing from a variety of methods. While HTA processes vary by country, recent years have seen greater standardisation of fundamental principles.