The European Commission is organising a public consultation on strengthening the European cooperation on Health Technology Assessment (HTA) to gather detailed views and opinions relating to the future of the EU cooperation on HTA.
As proposed in the Inception Impact Assessment published by the European Commission, the consultation will be the basis for a reinforced EU cooperation. The results of this public consultation will feed into the impact assessment process which the Commission services are currently preparing on strengthening EU cooperation on HTA.
Definitions:
Health Technology is a term used to cover certain aspects of healthcare products or services, such as:
- Pharmaceuticals (any medicinal products, from simple pain killers and gastro-protectors to anti-cancer medicines)
- Medical devices/equipment (for example X-ray machines, pacemakers, insulin pumps)
- Medical and surgical procedures (for example laparoscopy, hip replacement surgery)
- Other measures for disease prevention, diagnosis or treatment used in healthcare (such as vaccination programmes, pregnancy tests, screening test for early diagnostic of cancers, etc.).
Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is defined as a multidisciplinary process that summarises information in a systematic, unbiased and robust manner about the medical, economic, organisational, social and ethical issues related to the use of a health technology. The goal of HTA is to support decision makers at national, regional or local level in their efforts to ensure that patients are treated with the best available treatment while keeping the health budgets under control/in balance.
Target group(s):
All citizens and organisations are welcome to contribute to this consultation. Contributions are particularly sought from patient organisations, public authorities and government-appointed bodies responsible for commissioning or executing HTA reports, national health insurance and social security institutions and associations representing such bodies, companies developing pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other technologies as well as associations representing these industries, healthcare providers and professional associations, as well as academic institutions.
Period of consultation: From 21/10/2016 to 13/01/2017
More information and link to the consultation