HTA Assessment guidelines in Ireland

Health Technology Assessment guidelines in Ireland

The Authority has a statutory remit to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of health technologies and provide advice arising out of the evaluation to the Minister for Health and Children and the Health Service Executive (HSE). The primary audience for health technology assessments (HTAs) conducted by the Authority is therefore decision makers within the publicly-funded healthcare system. It is recognised that the findings of any such HTA may also have implications for other key stakeholders in the Irish healthcare system. These include patient groups, the general public, clinicians, other healthcare providers, academic groups and the manufacturing industry.

What is the purpose of the HTA guidelines?
The HTA guidelines provide an overview of the principles and methods used in assessing health technologies. They are intended as a guide for all those who are involved in the conduct or use of HTA in Ireland. The purpose of the guidelines is to promote the production of assessments that are timely, reliable, consistent and relevant to the needs of decision makers and key stakeholders in Ireland.

What do the guidelines comprise of?

The HTA guidelines will comprise several sections including guidance on economic evaluation, budget impact analysis, social, ethical and organisational aspects of HTA and recommended reporting formats.

Each of these sections is important. Rather than delay publication of the guidelines until all sections were complete, it was considered prudent to develop the sections of the guidelines as stand alone documents. Work on the guidelines began in 2009, commencing with the economic guidelines.

The HTA guidelines are being developed by the Authority with technical input from the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics and in consultation with its Scientific Advisory Group. Providing broad representation from key stakeholders in Irish healthcare, this group includes methodological experts from the field of health technology assessment (HTA). The group provides ongoing advice and support to the Authority in its development of national HTA guidelines. In addition, draft documents are made available to the wider public through an open consultation process before they are finalised.

Guidelines completed

The following is a list of HTA guidelines that we have completed to date.

Guidelines on Evaluating the Clinical Effectiveness of Health Technologies in Ireland

The clinical effectiveness of a technology is the ability of that technology to achieve a clinically significant impact on the health status of a patient. For example, the ability of a drug to reduce the risk of heart attack by lowering blood pressure.

The Clinical Effectiveness Guidelines are intended to provide guidance on the methods to be used when evaluating the clinical effectiveness of health technologies. Their purpose is to promote HTAs that accurately evaluate the impact of a technology on the health status of patients. This, in turn, promotes the development of high quality HTAs that are relevant to the Irish healthcare system.

The guidelines are intended to be used for all those who are involved in the conduct or use of HTA in Ireland and they will also inform health technology suppliers who prepare applications for reimbursement.

The Guidelines are the third set of guidance produced in the series of HTA Assessment guidelines. The Clinical Effectiveness Guidelines are intended to provide guidance on the methods to be used when evaluating the clinical effectiveness of health technologies.