Early Health Technology Assessment

This intermediate level course is for industry, researchers, advisory, regulatory, and funding agencies, governments, payers, clinicians, patients, and others who have a stake in improving care and services. The course focuses on Health Technology Assessment (HTA) concepts and methodologies in the early stages of product development (ie, early HTA). The research and development of a new medical technology is generally an expensive process; information about the potential clinical impact of a product—and its adoption and implementation into practice—at an early stage can justify the investment and guide further decision making all along the line. A major challenge is how to generate this information when no or only limited data is available.

This course provides an overview of the importance and constraints of early HTA, the evaluation and decision frameworks of different stakeholders, relevant research methodologies and the potential impact of the analyses. Using real-world case studies, we will present the process of working with stakeholders to frame the analysis, to gather evidence and to produce careful insights regarding potential new health technologies. Through a breakout exercise and group discussions, course participants will work on framing a product development decision and identify appropriate data collection and analysis methods.

PREREQUISITE: Attendance at short courses "Introduction to Health Technology Analysis", "Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Alongside Clinical Trials” and/or equivalent concepts and methodologies is prerequisite to attending this course.