Health Technology Assessment Training

ISPOR is dedicated to the improvement of healthcare decision making globally and HTA is an important tool for decision makers to achieve that end. 

The ISPOR HTA learning programs are intended to help participants: 

• Describe what a 'good' HTA process looks like and why this is important for health policy decisions
• Understand what evidence is; how the individual need for evidence may differ among patients, providers, payers, and regulators; and how to identify and combine clinical research (ie, meta-analysis and modeling)
• Recognize best practices in the conduct and reporting of economic evaluation and be able to conduct a trial- and modeling-based economic evaluation
• Be aware of other important factors in policy decision making (eg, societal value; patient perspectives; and ethical, legal, social, and cultural implications of technology use, etc); and understand how these can be incorporated into an HTA process
• Appreciate different issues, as well as the importance of different perspectives, related to the use and conduct of HTA

Target audiences include:

• Ministries of Health employees
• Health insurance funds staff
• HTA agency employees
• Professionals working in government departments responsible for healthcare decision making
• Public and private payers
• Health plan staff
• Academicians
• Patient group representatives

The original in-person, 4-day ISPOR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Training Program was developed by the Society's Health Technology Assessment Council, that consists of the chairs of its Health Technology Assessment Roundtable in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, and North America. The ISPOR HTA Training Program became a priority for the Council based on input from members and regional groups for support in knowledge and capacity building. Each of ISPOR’s regional HTA Roundtables has recognized and documented the need for capacity building in HTA (globally and through the regions). 

In 2013, when it was determined that capacity-building needs were universal across all ISPOR regions, the ISPOR HTA Council began to discuss how the Society could respond to similar, but unique, needs in each part of the world. Council meetings enabled shared understanding of global and regional HTA capacity building needs and considered a number of approaches that would eliminate the potential for redundancy of effort and investment in HTA training. Following intensive discussion and over the course of several meetings, the HTA Council recommended that all ISPOR HTA capacity building efforts be aligned through the development of a comprehensive and highly credible ISPOR-branded training program.

An HTA Council-led task force was developed to ensure the development of the ISPOR HTA Training Program materials. Materials were reviewed by members of the HTA Council, HTA Roundtables, the ISPOR Board of Directors, the Institutional Council, as well as regional experts (in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe). The extensive peer review ensured the credibility of the material, as well as adaptability to various target audiences and regions.

The ISPOR HTA Training Program held its pilot in Zagreb, Croatia and took place over 3 1/2 days from June 20 to June 23, 2015. It included 27 participants from 13 Central and Eastern European countries. Subsequent offerings were held between 2015-2018 in Peru, Sweden, Colombia, Portugal, Kazakhstan, and the United States.

Today, ISPOR supports HTA learning via its Short Course Program.