Health technology assessment and public health: a commentary

Health technology assessment and public health: a commentary.

This article reviews the developments in HTA in four countries, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, and United Kingdom, in relation to public health. It emphasizes that the majority of assessments made are concerned with individual clinical care rather than with the optimization of health. Possible reasons for the neglect of public health issues are that these are inherently more complex than the ...

History of health technology assessment: a commentary.

I have long felt the need for documentation on the global development—I could probably pin it to the moment I was visiting health technology assessment (HTA) institutions in the United States in 1995, and was looking forward to a trip to the Office of Technology Assessment, only to be told it had just been shut. Instead, I visited the Office of Health Technology Assessment in Washington. In add...

Health technology assessment and public health: a time for convergence.

Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and Public Health have more in common than meets the eye. Despite having distinct historical trajectories and organizational structures, these fields of applied research share several key defining features: the interdisciplinary nature of their core activities and required expertise; the use of a variety of methods to generate and synthesize evidence; and thei...

Health technology assessment: a sociological commentary on reflexive innovation.

This study provides a sociological commentary on the current debates within health technology assessment (HTA), specifically in response to the approaches taken in France, The Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. It argues that HTA is part of a wider reflexive innovation system that seeks to order current and prospective technologies. The study discusses the socio-political process of H...

Commentary: Health Care Cost Containment and Technology Assessment