While the practice of comparing treatment outcomes can be traced to ancient times, the development of comparativeeffectiveness research (CER) as a scientific discipline is a relatively recent phenomenon. In the United States, CER has a pedigree based in health technology assessment, stemming from early efforts by the US Office of Technology Assessment to justify the use of expensive new medical...

Iran's health system is in the serious need of reconstructing its infrastructures, a significant part of which is health technologies. An untapped market of 80 million people will be open to technologies of the world through Iran's entry to post-sanctions era. Health Technology Assessment projects date back to nearly eight years ago in Iran. However, given the current circumstances, its applica...

This study analyses why ethical aspects play a minor role in health technology assessment (HTA) studies, even when comprehensive approaches of technology assessment are advocated. Technology is often regarded as a value-neutral tool. At the same time, bioethics is dominated by an engineering model. Ethical contributions to evaluation of medical technology should go beyond issues of application ...

Health technology assessment (HTA) uses a multidisciplinary approach to answer relevant questions regarding the safety, efficacy, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of health technologies. There is growing interest in implementing HTA methods at the hospital level because it could facilitate decision-making regarding acquisition, implementation or discontinuation of technologies or interventi...

Although we have tried to make this example as realistic as possible, the development of a real product may differ from this example. The example is for illustrative purposes and, depending on applicants’ experience and knowledge, the degree of experimentation for a particular product may vary. The impact of experience and knowledge should be thoroughly explained in the submission. The risk ass...

BACKGROUND The way in which a health technology is used in any particular health system depends on the decisions and actions of a variety of stakeholders, the local culture, and context. In 2009, the HTAi Policy Forum considered how health technology assessment (HTA) could be improved to optimize the use of technologies (in terms of uptake, change in use, or disinvestment) in such complex syste...

BACKGROUND Health technology assessment (HTA) is a tool utilized for efficient dissemination of technology. For the purpose of encouraging decision-makers to utilize this tool, at first, we need to identify the obstacles in the processes of preparation, utilization, and implementation of HTAs. This study aims to define these barriers and offer solutions for effective utilization of HTA reports ...