Upcoming Projects

CADTH Undertakes Four New Health Technology Assessments

Topics for health technology assessments (HTA) are selected twice a year by two of CADTH’s Advisory Committees. Topics for evaluating medical devices and systems are selected by members of the Devices and Systems Advisory Committee (DSAC) and pharmaceutical topics are selected by members of the Advisory Committee on Pharmaceuticals (ACP). This spring, Advisory Committee members selected four new HTA projects (Table 1).

Table 1

The Selection Process

DSAC and ACP members prioritized topics being considered for HTA work using two key pieces of information. First, they consider preliminary ranks assigned to each topic proposal. These are based on the importance of the policy problem as it relates to six criteria: the availability of alternative technologies, the budget impact related to the funding decision, clinical impact of the technology, disease burden associated with the condition for which the technology is intended, the economic impact of funding the technology, and the status of evidence available on the technology to be assessed. In addition, Advisory Committee members consider jurisdictional context information (e.g., local and pan-Canadian relevance of the policy problem). Advisory Committee members review all the information (criteria-based and contextual) through a deliberative process before selecting topics to be undertaken as new HTA projects.

Timelines

Research work on these new HTA projects will begin this summer. Research work on HTA project titled “Surgical robotics for cardiac, gynaecology, nephrology and urology procedures” is anticipated to be initiated in June 2009. Commissioning of the three other HTA projects will be staggered through the rest of the summer and fall.

For further information, please contact Michel Boucher, Lead, HTA Development at CADTH; e-mail: michelb@cadth.ca; tel: (613) 226-2553, ext: 1232.