OBJECTIVES:

General: To review the literature and web pages of the HTA agencies in order to know the means that facilitate the health professionals(HP) incorporation to HTA reporting processes.

Specifics: To define the procedures for the selection. To describe how their incorporation is carried out. Identify the tasks and domains in which participated.

METHODS: We search SR or Experimental Studies indexed in Pubmed, Embase,WOS and Cochrane Collaboration. Other studies, manuals or criteria published in HTA agencies websites was searching too.

RESULTS:

A study was found that dive into the websites of HTA agencies published in 2015. We remedied this search in 2022. 44 documents from 22 organizations were found. The summary is: Almost all agencies consider the inclusion of HP in HTA but the recommendations are generally diffuse. No specific identification criteria are identified or described, the selection processes are very disparate. It is recommended that more than one expert be selected. They do not find a specific profile of those they call "experts" and the methods of participation include a supervised, transparent and systematic process to avoid biases. The HP participation is almost total in the evidence preparation phase and disparate in other phases of the process. Conflict of interest is resolved in different ways.

In addition, we found 4 studies aimed at finding out aspects of the participation of HP in HTA and 8 aimed at describing experiences of participation in HTA reports.

CONCLUSIONS:

1. There is no clear and unanimous definition of the procedures for selecting professionals. It is common to resort to professional associations, scientific societies and "snowballing" among professionals.
2. No specific way of incorporating professionals into HTA process has been identified.
3. The tasks and domains in which professionals participate in HTA are mainly counseling prior to the development of reports, the prioritization phase and the development of the clinical framework.