Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T03:19:27.810Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Integration of ethical considerations into HTA reports: an analysis of integration levels using a systematic review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2021

Georges-Auguste Legault
Affiliation:
Faculté de Droit, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique (3IT) de l'Université de Sherbrooke, Parc Innovation P2, 3000 Boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QuebecJ1K 0A5, Canada
Hubert Gagnon
Affiliation:
Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique (3IT) de l'Université de Sherbrooke, Parc Innovation P2, 3000 Boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QuebecJ1K 0A5, Canada
Monelle Parent
Affiliation:
Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique (3IT) de l'Université de Sherbrooke, Parc Innovation P2, 3000 Boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QuebecJ1K 0A5, Canada
Christian A. Bellemare
Affiliation:
Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique (3IT) de l'Université de Sherbrooke, Parc Innovation P2, 3000 Boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QuebecJ1K 0A5, Canada Clinical Quality Division, Centre Intégré Universitaire de Santé et de Services Sociaux (CIUSSS) de l'Estrie – Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Sherbrooke (CHUS), Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
Jean-Pierre Béland
Affiliation:
Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique (3IT) de l'Université de Sherbrooke, Parc Innovation P2, 3000 Boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QuebecJ1K 0A5, Canada Unité d'Enseignement en Éthique, Département des Sciences Humaines, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC), Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
Suzanne Kocsis-Bédard
Affiliation:
Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique (3IT) de l'Université de Sherbrooke, Parc Innovation P2, 3000 Boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QuebecJ1K 0A5, Canada Centre Intégré Universitaire de Santé et de Services Sociaux (CIUSSS) de l'Estrie – Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Sherbrooke (CHUS), Centre de Recherche Clinique du CHUS, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
Louise Bernier
Affiliation:
Faculté de Droit, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique (3IT) de l'Université de Sherbrooke, Parc Innovation P2, 3000 Boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QuebecJ1K 0A5, Canada
Pierre Dagenais
Affiliation:
Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique (3IT) de l'Université de Sherbrooke, Parc Innovation P2, 3000 Boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QuebecJ1K 0A5, Canada Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé de l'Université de Sherbrooke, Centre Intégré Universitaire de Santé et de Services Sociaux (CIUSSS) de l'Estrie – Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Sherbrooke (CHUS), Centre de Recherche Clinique du CHUS, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
Charles-Étienne Daniel
Affiliation:
Faculté de Droit, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique (3IT) de l'Université de Sherbrooke, Parc Innovation P2, 3000 Boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QuebecJ1K 0A5, Canada
Johane Patenaude*
Affiliation:
Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique (3IT) de l'Université de Sherbrooke, Parc Innovation P2, 3000 Boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, QuebecJ1K 0A5, Canada Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
*
Author for correspondence: Johane Patenaude, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Objective

To describe the type and level of ethical integration in published health technology assessment (HTA) reports and systematically identify the ethical approaches utilized.

Methods

A literature search was conducted with the Google™ search engine using the keyword “ethic” between 1 January 2015 and 20 August 2019. Only HTA assessment reports with a section on ethics were retained and classified according to their level of ethical integration: no ethical analysis, ethical issues highlighted, assessments according to legal or social norms, and assessments from a moral or axiological perspective—using a qualitative methodology to distinguish such integration.

Results

This review yielded 188 reports with a section identified as being on ethics, produced by seventeen HTA agencies in eleven countries. One hundred and thirty-six reports did not develop an ethical analysis, thirty-one highlighted ethical issues, seventeen conducted a norm-based ethical assessment using a descriptive approach grounded in social norms, and four developed an assessment grounded in a moral or axiological perspective. The bioethical “four-principles” framework was used, but mainly for presenting ethical issues and not as a moral framework.

Conclusions

The majority of reports featuring a section on ethics mention ethical considerations without ethical analysis. Ethical issues are grouped with legal, social, and organizational issues and treated as contextual considerations that decision makers should be aware of. When reports present systematic norm-based ethical assessments from a descriptive perspective or ethical assessment based on a moral or axiological perspective, there is a tendency to ground these analyses in frameworks created for the purpose and reliant on a concept of ethics supporting them.

Type
Method
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Hofmann, B. On value-judgements and ethics in health technology assessment. Poiesis Prax. 2005;3:277–95.10.1007/s10202-005-0073-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saarni, SI, Hofmann, B, Lampe, K, Luhmann, D, Makela, M, Velasco-Garrido, M, et al. Ethical analysis to improve decision-making on health technologies. Bull World Health Organ. 2008;86:617–23.10.2471/BLT.08.051078CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hofmann, B, Droste, S, Oortwijn, W, Cleemput, I, Sacchini, D. Harmonization of ethics in health technology assessment: A revision of the Socratic approach. Int J Technol Assess Health Care. 2014;30:39.10.1017/S0266462313000688CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Assasi, N, Schwartz, L, Tarride, JE, O'Reilly, D, Goeree, R. Barriers and facilitators influencing ethical evaluation in health technology assessment. Int J Technol Assess Health Care. 2015;31:113–23.10.1017/S026646231500032XCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bellemare, CA, Dagenais, P, K-Bédard, S, Béland, JP, Bernier, L, Daniel, CE, et al. Ethics in health technology assessment: A systematic review. Int J Technol Assess Health Care. 2018;34:447–57.10.1017/S0266462318000508CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daniels, N, Porteny, T, Urrutia, J. Expanded HTA: Enhancing fairness and legitimacy. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2016;5:13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sacchini, D, Refolo, P, Spagnolo, A. HTA experience of the UCSC Inst. of Bioethics and MH - Rome (IT). HTAi Annual Meeting Abstract Book; 2019. p. 191, 409.Google Scholar
European Network for Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA) [Internet] Joint Action 2, Work Package 8: HTA Core Model, v.3. 2016. Available from: www.htacoremodel.info/BrowseModel.aspxGoogle Scholar
Legault, GA, Béland, JP, Parent, M, K.-Bédard, S, Bellemare, CA, Bernier, L, et al. Ethical evaluation in health technology assessment: A challenge for applied philosophy. Open J Philos. 2019;9:331–51.10.4236/ojpp.2019.93022CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandman, L, Heintz, E. Assessment vs. appraisal of ethical aspects of health technology assessment: Can the distinction be upheld? GMS Health Technol Assess. 2014;10:Doc05. doi: 10.3205/hta000121.Google ScholarPubMed
Moher, D, Liberati, A, Tetzlaff, J, Altman, DG, Grp, P. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement (reprinted from annals of internal medicine). PLoS Med. 2009;89:873–80.Google Scholar
INAHTA & HTAi. HTA Glossary; 2019.Google Scholar
Gagnon, H, Legault, G-A, Bellemare, CA, Parent, M, Dagenais, P, K-Bédard, S, et al. How does HTA address current social expectations? An international survey. Int J Technol Assess Health Care. 2021. doi:10.1017/ S0266462320000793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS). Methodological guide - Assessment of ethical aspects. Saint-Denis–France; 2013.Google Scholar
MSAC. Testing for hereditary mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, MSAC report 1216; 2015.Google Scholar
CADTH. Interventions for the Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Adults: A Health Technology Assessment. Report no. 72; 2017.Google Scholar
Bernier, L, Legault, GA, Daniel, , K.-Bédard, S, Béland, J-P, Bellemare, CA, et al. Legal governance in HTA: Environment, health and safety issues/ethical. Legal and Social Issues (EHSI/ELSI), the Ongoing Debate. Can J Bioeth. 2020;3. doi:10.7202/1070226ar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sacchini, D, Virdis, A, Refolo, P, Pennacchini, M, de Paula, IC. Health technology assessment (HTA): Ethical aspects. Med Heal Care Philos. 2009;12:453–7.10.1007/s11019-009-9206-yCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Legault et al. supplementary material

Legault et al. supplementary material 1

Download Legault et al. supplementary material(File)
File 29.5 KB
Supplementary material: File

Legault et al. supplementary material

Legault et al. supplementary material 2

Download Legault et al. supplementary material(File)
File 23.8 KB