scholarly journals National Database for Autism Research (NDAR): Big Data Opportunities for Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nalin Payakachat ◽  
J. Mick Tilford ◽  
Wendy J. Ungar
Author(s):  
Devidas Menon ◽  
Deborah Marshall

AbstractHealth technology assessment as a formalized set of activities has a relatively short history. At its current stage of development, it is clear that it has global dimensions and impact. In this paper we review the history of health technology assessment, its development as a form of health services research, and its “institutionalization.” We then identify the reasons for its internationalization, review current international initiatives, and propose actions to be taken to improve cooperation among countries.


2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (S1) ◽  
pp. 82-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Cleemput ◽  
Philippe Van Wilder

Objectives: This paper gives an overview of health technology assessment (HTA) in Belgium.Methods: The information included in the overview is based on legal documents and publicly available year reports of the Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE).Results: Belgium has a relatively young history in HTA. The principle of evidence-based medicine (EBM) was introduced in the drug reimbursement procedure in 2001, with the establishment of the Drug Reimbursement Committee (DRC). The DRC assesses the efficacy, safety, convenience, applicability, and effectiveness of a drug relative to existing treatment alternatives. For some drugs, relative cost-effectiveness is also evaluated. The activities of the DRC can, therefore, be considered to be the first official HTA activities in Belgium. Later, in 2003, KCE was established. Its mission was to perform policy preparing research in the healthcare and health insurance sector and to give advice to policy makers about how they can obtain an efficient allocation of limited healthcare resources that optimizes the quality and accessibility of health care. This broad mission has been operationalized by activities in three domains of research: HTA, health services research, and good clinical practice. KCE is independent from the policy maker. Its HTAs contain policy recommendations that may inform policy decisions but are not binding.Conclusions: Although the Belgian history of HTA is relatively short, its foundations are strong and the impact of HTA increasing. Nevertheless KCE has many challenges for the future, including continued quality assurance, further development of international collaboration, and further development of methodological guidance for HTA.


2019 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-257
Author(s):  
Tita Mensah ◽  
Anders Hjern ◽  
Kickan Håkanson ◽  
Pia Johansson ◽  
Ann Kristine Jonsson ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (01) ◽  
pp. 28-37
Author(s):  
F. J. Martin-Sanchez ◽  
V. Aguiar-Pulido ◽  
G. H. Lopez-Campos ◽  
N. Peek ◽  
L. Sacchi

Summary Objectives: To identify common methodological challenges and review relevant initiatives related to the re-use of patient data collected in routine clinical care, as well as to analyze the economic benefits derived from the secondary use of this data. Through the use of several examples, this article aims to provide a glimpse into the different areas of application, namely clinical research, genomic research, study of environmental factors, and population and health services research. This paper describes some of the informatics methods and Big Data resources developed in this context, such as electronic phenotyping, clinical research networks, biorepositories, screening data banks, and wide association studies. Lastly, some of the potential limitations of these approaches are discussed, focusing on confounding factors and data quality. Methods: A series of literature searches in main bibliographic databases have been conducted in order to assess the extent to which existing patient data has been repurposed for research. This contribution from the IMIA working group on “Data mining and Big Data analytics” focuses on the literature published during the last two years, covering the timeframe since the working group’s last survey. Results and Conclusions: Although most of the examples of secondary use of patient data lie in the arena of clinical and health services research, we have started to witness other important applications, particularly in the area of genomic research and the study of health effects of environmental factors. Further research is needed to characterize the economic impact of secondary use across the broad spectrum of translational research.


2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Ahern ◽  
Nessa O'Doherty

Ireland's health system is primarily funded from general taxation and is publicly provided, although private health care retains a considerable role. It is a unique structure, a mixture of universal health service free at the point of consumption and a fee-based private system where individuals subscribe to private health insurance that covers some of their medical expenses. The recent history of the Irish health services saw consolidation of existing services and an expansion into new areas to adapt to changing practices and needs. There has also been a drive to extract maximum efficiency so as to maintain the volume and quality of patient services at a time of very tight financial constraints. Introduction of new health technologies continued to accelerate. New technologies tended to spread rapidly before systematic appraisal of their costs and benefits. When the state is involved in funding the public hospital system, acceptance of new technology is a matter for discussion between agencies and the Department of Health and Children. Decisions about spending annual “development funding” have generally not been based on careful assessment of proposals for new technology. In 1995, a healthcare reform put new Public Health Departments in Health Boards in a prime position in Ireland's health services organization. These departments now emphasize evidence-based medicine. While Ireland does not have a national health technology assessment (HTA) program, there are plans to form an advisory group on HTA in 1998. HTA is seen as a significant element of future health policy in Ireland.


Author(s):  
Andrew Cook ◽  
Elke Streit ◽  
Gill Davage

INTRODUCTION:The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) Programme commissions research to inform health services in the United Kingdom. The program prioritises research ideas from literature, guidelines, patients, and clinicians, to decide which research should be funded. We get clinical input on these ideas through (i) committees of clinicians and patients and (ii) seeking written advice from multiple clinicians — a refereeing process. Chairs of our committees suggested that the material we sent to clinicians was too extensive and the method of response too burdensome. We set out to determine whether reducing the information provided or burden of response would improve the engagement of clinicians with our processes, and hence improve the quality of advice provided, and the research available to health services.METHODS:We undertook a factorial randomized controlled trial (University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine Ethics Committee #8192, Trial registration: ACTRN12614000167662). Each participant was randomized to receive one of two types of material to comment on, and one of two means to respond. In the first allocation participants were randomised in a 1:1 ratio between receiving a ‘vignette’ (a briefing paper of up to ten pages discussing possible research = usual practice), or a ‘commissioning brief’ (a single page summarising the proposed research). In the second allocation, the method of response was randomized, between a structured form and free text email.RESULTS:We randomized 460 clinical experts, and 356 (77.4 percent) responded. The responses were graded for quality on a scale of 0 to 4 (higher scores better). Non-response was scored as 0. Analysis using ANOVA gave results of a structured response scoring .34 points (Standard Deviation, SD .36) over a freeform response (p = .02); and the commissioning brief as .04 points over a vignette (p = .81).CONCLUSIONS:This was the first randomized trial to take place inside the secretariat of the HTA program. The difference in quality score between the brief and the vignette allocations was neither statistically nor practically important. The difference between the structured and freeform response was statistically significant, and sufficiently large to be important in practice. While the choice of material to share with clinicians seems unimportant we have shown that it is worth sending a structured response form to experts.


Author(s):  
Amy von Huben ◽  
Martin Howell ◽  
Joseph Carrello ◽  
Sarah Norris ◽  
Sally Wortley ◽  
...  

Abstract Background As health services increasingly make investment decisions in digital health technologies (DHTs), a DHT-specific and comprehensive health technology assessment (HTA) process is crucial in assessing value-for-money. Research in DHTs is ever-increasing, but whether it covers the content required for HTA is unknown. Objectives To summarize current trends in primary research on DHTs that manage chronic disease at home, particularly the coverage of content recommended for DHT-specific and comprehensive HTA. Methods Medline, Embase, Econlit, CINAHL, and The Cochrane Library (1 January 2015 to 20 March 2020) were searched for primary research studies using keywords related to DHT and HTA domains. Studies were assessed for coverage of the most frequently recommended content to be considered in a nine domain DHT-specific HTA previously developed. Results A total of 178 DHT interventions were identified, predominantly randomized controlled trials targeting cardiovascular disease/diabetes in high- to middle-income countries. A coverage assessment of the cardiovascular and diabetes DHT studies (112) revealed less than half covered DHT-specific content in all but the health problem domain. Content common to all technologies but essential for DHTs was covered by more than half the studies in all domains except for the effectiveness and ethical analysis domains. Conclusions Although DHT research is increasing, it is not covering all the content recommended for a DHT-specific and comprehensive HTA. The inability to conduct such an HTA may lead to health services making suboptimal investment decisions. Measures to increase the quality of trial design and reporting are required in DHT primary research.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 103-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graciela Demirdjian

Objectives: To describe the first hospital-based health technology assessment (HTA) program in a public hospital in Argentina, and report some clinical, educational, economic and organizational results after 10 years of its implementation.Methods: A hospital-based HTA program was created in March 2001 at Hospital Garrahan (Buenos Aires, Argentina), a national pediatric facility with a self-managed budget. Its main goal is to promote a rational and evidence-based technologic development. The program consists of HTA reports for technology acquisition, clinical practice guidelines (CPG), capacity building in research and management, and technical support for health services research (HSR). The evaluation cycle comprises: prioritization, evidence synthesis, dissemination and monitoring. We report program performance, comment educational and organizational effects, and discuss unresolved issues and future challenges.Results: During the first 10 years the program produced 18 HTA reports on drugs (6 = 33 percent), therapeutic (6 = 33 percent), preventive (2 = 11 percent) or diagnostic (2 = 11 percent) procedures and institutional programs (3 = 17 percent). The scope covered effectiveness (12 = 67 percent), safety (10 = 56 percent), budget impact (6 = 33 percent), cost-effectiveness (2 = 11 percent) and organizational impact (3 = 17 percent). Mean time from request to report was 10 months. Eleven pediatric CPGs were submitted to expert consensus and disseminated for full-text Web access. A 1-year course on research and management was completed by 225 professionals in 6 years, and twenty-two projects for HSR were coached.Conclusions: Our experience shows that an HTA program is both feasible and useful in a public hospital of a developing country. Promotion of hospital-based HTA, professional integration in HTA activities and network collaboration to discuss unresolved issues with colleagues can multiply the benefits and optimize the use of hospital budgets.


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