Health technology assessment: a multidisciplinary approach for selecting innovations in the health service
Cavallo, M.C.
Giornale Italiano di Nefrologia: Organo Ufficiale Della Societa Italiana di Nefrologia 30(3)
2013
ISSN/ISBN: 1724-5990 PMID: 23832477 Document Number: 670186
Technological evolution and the increasing requests of a more qualified health care have challenged politicians to evaluate the economical sustainability of proposed innovations. The objective of government health policies is to guarantee real advances in the quality of care to all citizens. Since 1965, independent research centers have analyzed this issue for the US Congress. In 1973, Congress endorsed the establishment of an Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to discover the best strategies for evaluating such advances. OTA have proposed the following criteria to identify possible beneficial innovations to be introduced into routine health care: effectiveness, safeness, worth, costs, cost-effectiveness ratio and cost patient-benefit ratio. This review analyzes in detail the pathway that each medical innovation follows in order to identify which technological evolutions might prove to be truly beneficial and sustainable for the community.