Involvement of Patients and Medical Professionals in the Assessment of Relative Effectiveness: A Need for Closer Cooperation

Sep 1, 2022, 00:00
10.1016/j.jval.2022.03.021
https://www.valueinhealthjournal.com/article/S1098-3015(22)00189-9/fulltext
Title : Involvement of Patients and Medical Professionals in the Assessment of Relative Effectiveness: A Need for Closer Cooperation
Citation : https://www.valueinhealthjournal.com/action/showCitFormats?pii=S1098-3015(22)00189-9&doi=10.1016/j.jval.2022.03.021
First page : 1480
Section Title : COMPARATIVE-EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH/HTA
Open access? : No
Section Order : 3

Objectives

Involvement of patients and medical professionals in assessment of relative effectiveness (relative effectiveness assessment) contributes to an efficient and effective health technology assessment (HTA) process and supports acceptance and implementation of the outcome. This study aimed to analyze stakeholder involvement in assessing relative effectiveness and how the parties involved value this collaboration.

Methods

This is a document analysis of all drug assessments completed in 2019 (20) by the public HTA agency of The Netherlands, enriched with semistructured interviews with employees of the HTA agency (18) and representatives of patient (5) and medical (11) associations involved in these assessments. Data were analyzed, coded, and categorized.

Results

In almost half of the assessments, there was no coordination with the medical associations at the start of the relative effectiveness assessment and no patient associations involved in this phase. During the assessment procedure, patient and medical associations were always asked to comment on the draft report. Nevertheless, the strict 5-day deadline that the HTA agency uses as a response period often hampered a proper response and involvement. According to interviewees of the HTA agency, this leads to a great diversity in the substantive quality of their input. Patient and medical associations indicated that the HTA agency relies too much on “paper knowledge,” which leads to a (perceived) lack of alignment with clinical practice.

Conclusions

The limited involvement results in a lack of coordination and mutual trust. Optimizing involvement of patients and medical professionals in HTA practice requires effort from all parties involved. Procedural adjustments and better coordination, especially at the start of the assessment, would probably improve cooperation.

Categories :
  • Decision & Deliberative Processes
  • Health Technology Assessment
  • Patient Engagement
  • Patient-Centered Research
  • Study Approaches
  • Surveys & Expert Panels
Tags :
  • communication
  • health policy
  • health technology assessment
  • information sharing
  • patient involvement
  • professional involvement
  • relative effectiveness assessment
  • stakeholders
Regions :
  • Western Europe
ViH Article Tags :