Vienna, Austria—31 October 2016—The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (
ISPOR) facilitated a discussion on
National Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Process and European Cooperation on HTA: Fit for Purpose? this morning at the Society’s
19th Annual European Congress in Vienna, Austria.
The panel was moderated by
Finn Børlum Kristensen, MD, PhD, Professor, University of Southern Denmark, Hilleroed, Denmark. Speakers for the discussion panel included:
- Dominik Schnichels, Head of Unit, DG SANTE B4, Medical Products: Quality, Safety, Innovation, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium
- Zoe Garrett, MRes, Senior Technical Adviser, Centre for Health Technology Evaluation, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Manchester, UK
- Rui Santos Ivo, Vice-President, Executive Board, National Authority of Medicines and Health Products, Lisbon, Portugal
- Tomas Tesar, PharmD, PhD, MBA, Member, Reimbursement Committee, Union Health Insurance Fund, Bratislava, Slovakia
The panelists acknowledged that while decision making on patient access to health technologies will remain a sole national competence of the European Union (EU) Member States, they stressed that opportunities do exist to improve European cooperation on HTA. Through the work of EUnetHTA, European cooperation on HTA has resulted in methodological and process support tools that facilitate collaborative scientific work and production of HTA information that can be shared across borders.
The speakers discussed a number of important issues that could contribute to a permanent solution for sustainable HTA cooperation in Europe, including:
- identifying ways in which the collaborative work produced at the European level can fit into national HTA and decision-making processes
- creating processes to ensure that European cooperation effectively and efficiently contributes to HTA in participating countries
- exploring opportunities and plans that can support synergy between European and national HTA processes
- developing strategies to support regional cooperation between Member States and the EU
Additional information on the ISPOR 19th Annual European Congress can be found
here. Released presentations from the congress can be found
here. Interested parties can follow news and developments from the conference on social media using the hashtag
#ISPORVienna.
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