Importance of implementation of a system for evaluation of medical technologies

Abstract

Although there is no standard definition of health technology assessment (HTA) unanimously accepted internationally, three definitions are most commonly used in the programming documents of the specialized agencies in assessing new technologies: (1) Defined in full, Goodman, 1998: "Health technology assessment refers to any process of review and reporting the properties of a technology, used in the provision of medical services, such as safety, clinical efficacy, indications, costs, cost - effectiveness, at the same time with the economic, social and ethical consequences of its use, intentional or not”. (2) Synthetic definition of the International Society of Technology Assessment in Health Care: "The systematic appraisal of properties, results and impact of the use of medical technologies”. (3) The definition proposed by the European network for Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA): "Health technology assessment is a multidisciplinary process that summarizes medical, social, economic and ethical issues related to the use of medical technology in a systematic, transparent, impartial and robust manner. The purpose of HTA is to provide informational support to formulate effective, safe health policies".