Direct costs were estimated for the treatment, rehabilitation, and nursing of 125 patients with first stroke in the Lund and Orup health districts (population of 200,191). Patients were followed from the onset of stroke in 1983 until October 31, 1985. The data were used to calculate the present value of the expected lifetime direct costs for an individual contracting his or her first stroke at various ages. For example, at the age of 72, these costs were estimated at SEK 283,000 for a man and SEK 561,000 for a woman. Hospital care was the major cost component (75% for males and 89% for females) at this age of onset. The results could be used to estimate the economic benefits of preventing new strokes, hence, forming part of a cost-effectiveness or cost-utility analysis. Together with prognoses of the expected developments in the incidence of stroke, they could also serve as the basis of forecasts of future costs of the health care and social service sectors.

Objectives: Controversy exists regarding the optimal method of providing dialysis in critically ill patients with acute renal failure. We sought to determine the cost-effectiveness of treatment strategies.

Methods: Adult subjects requiring renal replacement therapy in a critical care setting who are candidates for intermittent hemodialysis (IHD) or continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) were considered within a Markov model. Alternative strategies including IHD, and standard or high dose CRRT were compared. The model considered relevant clinical and economic outcomes, and incorporated data on clinical effectiveness from a recent systematic review and high quality micro-costing data.

Results: In the base-case analysis, CRRT was associated with similar health outcomes but higher costs by ($3,679 more than IHD per patient). In scenarios considering alternate cost sources, and higher intensity of IHD (including daily and longer duration IHD), CRRT remained more costly. Sensitivity analysis indicated that even small differences in the risk of mortality or need for long-term chronic dialysis therapy among surviving patients benefits led to dramatic changes in the cost-effectiveness of the modalities considered.

Conclusions: Given the higher costs of providing CRRT and absence of demonstrated benefit, IHD is the preferred modality in critically ill patients who are candidates for either IHD or CRRT, although this conclusion should be revisited if future clinical trials establish differences in clinical effectiveness between modalities. Future interventions that are proven to improve renal recovery after acute renal failure are likely to be cost-effective, even if very resource intensive.

Two strategies for vaccine-delivery systems, both relying on concepts of controlled-release technology, are described in this review. The first strategy involves using biodegradable polymer microspheres for parenteral and oral delivery of antigens. The other strategy combines two technologies, the encapsulation of antigen within liposomes and liposome encapsulation in hydrogels, to protect them from a rapid degradation in vivo. Both strategies have shown promise in terms of increasing the immunogenicity of poorly immunogenic peptides and protein vaccines. The microencapsulation process, antigen stability, mechanism of antigen release, and optimal release kinetics for vaccine delivery are reviewed, and the strengths and weaknesses of each approach are discussed.

Objectives: This report is a scoping review of the literature with the objective of identifying definitions, conceptual models and frameworks, as well as the methods and range of perspectives, for determining appropriateness in the context of healthcare delivery.

Methods: To lay groundwork for future, intervention-specific research on appropriateness, this work was carried out as a scoping review of published literature since 1966. Two reviewers, with two screens using inclusion/exclusion criteria based on the objective, focused the research and articles chosen for review.

Results: The first screen examined 2,829 abstracts/titles, with the second screen examining 124 full articles, leaving 37 articles deemed highly relevant for data extraction and interpretation. Appropriateness is defined largely in terms of net clinical benefit to the average patient and varies by service and setting. The most widely used method to assess appropriateness of healthcare services is the RAND/UCLA Model. There are many related concepts such as medical necessity and small-areas variation.

Conclusions: A broader approach to determining appropriateness for healthcare interventions is possible and would involve clinical, patient and societal perspectives.

Objectives: This study aims to review the development of health technology assessment (HTA), including the socioeconomic context, outputs, and policy utilization in the Thai setting.

Methods: This study was conducted through extensive document reviews including these published in both domestic and international literature.

Results: Evidence suggests that contextual elements of the health system, especially the country's economic status and health financing reforms, as well as their effects on government budgeting for medical and public health services, played an important role in the increasing needs and demands for HTA information among policy makers. In the midst of substantial economic growth during the years 1982 to 1996, several studies reported the rapid diffusion and poor distribution of health technologies, and inequitable access to high-cost technology in public and private hospitals. At the same time, economic analysis and its underpinning concept of efficiency were suggested by groups of scholars and health officials to guide national policy on the investment in health technology equipment. Related research and training programs were subsequently launched. However, none of these HTA units could be institutionalized into national bodies. From 1997 to 2005, an economic recession, followed by the introduction of a universal health coverage plan, triggered the demands for effective measures for cost containment and prioritization of health interventions. This made policy makers and researchers at the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) pay increasing attention to economic appraisals, and several HTA programs were established in the Ministry. Despite the rising number of Thai health economic publications, a major problem at that period involved the poor quality of studies. Since 2006, economic recovery and demands from different interests to include expensive technologies in the public health benefit package have been crucial factors promoting the role of HTA in national policy decisions. Meanwhile, HTA capacity has been strengthened through the establishment of many health economic and HTA initiatives. An illustration of the work and contributions of the Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP) is provided. In this phase, HTA policy integration has been enhanced through different mechanisms and organizations.

Conclusion: Over the past two decades a notable progression has been made in relation to the capacity building of HTA research and its policy utility in Thailand. Such development has been shaped by multiple factors. It is anticipated that experience gained among academics, health officials, and civil society organizations will be helpful not only in sustaining the momentum but also in improving formal HTA systems in the future.

Does increased spending improve health outcomes? We analyzed 1988 data from OECD countries to determine how key health care indexes correlate with health care outcomes. Total health care spending per capita and outpatient and inpatient utilization are not related to health outcomes. How our resources are allocated seems to be more important than how much money is actually spent.

Health technology assessment (HTA) involves values and judgments, but there have been few attempts to seek the views of members of the public or to ensure that they have access to the results. Patients and citizens can make an important contribution to HTA by determining priorities for assessment, designing and conducting assessments and appraisals, receiving and using the findings, and engaging in debates about policy priorities and rationing. Those responsible for HTA should make greater efforts to involve the public and ensure that the findings are accessible to patients for use when making treatment choices.

Objectives: Health technology assessment (HTA) is a policy-oriented form of research designed to inform decision-makers on the introduction, use, and dissemination of health technology. Whereas research on knowledge transfer has focused on knowledge producers, little attention has been given to the user's perspective. This study examines how health-care provider, administrator, and patient associations across Canada use HTA reports and the limitations they encounter when accessing and using scientific knowledge.

Methods: This study draws from semistructured interviews (n = 42) conducted with three types of user, located in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec. Applying well-established conceptual categories in knowledge utilization research, our qualitative analyses sought to define more precisely how HTA is used by interviewees as well as the most significant barriers they encounter.

Results: The vast majority of users recognize the usefulness and credibility of HTA reports. Of interest, the way they use HTA takes different forms. Although administrators and health-care providers are in a better position than patient associations to act directly on HTA messages—making an instrumental use of HTA—we also found conceptual and symbolic uses across all groups. Our results also indicate that significant organizational, scientific, and material limitations hinder the use of scientific evidence. Overcoming such barriers requires a greater commitment from both HTA producers and users.

Conclusions: This study argues that, to ensure better uptake of HTA, it should become a shared responsibility between HTA producers and various types of user.

Objectives: A linked evidence approach (LEA) is the synthesis of systematically acquired evidence on the accuracy of a medical test, its impact on clinical decision making and the effectiveness of consequent treatment options. We aimed to assess the practical utility of this methodology and to develop a decision framework to guide its use.

Methods: As Australia has lengthy experience with LEA, we reviewed health technology assessment (HTA) reports informing reimbursement decisions by the Medical Services Advisory Committee (August 2005 to March 2012). Eligibility was determined according to predetermined criteria and data were extracted on test characteristics, evaluation methodologies, and reported difficulties. Fifty percent of the evidence-base was independently analyzed by a second reviewer.

Results: Evaluations of medical tests for diagnostic (62 percent), staging (27 percent), and screening (6 percent) purposes were available for eighty-nine different clinical indications. Ninety-six percent of the evaluations used either the full LEA methodology or an abridged version (where evidence is linked through to management changes but not patient outcomes). Sixty-one percent had the full evidence linkage. Twenty-five percent of test evaluations were considered problematic; all involving LEA (n = 22). Problems included: determining test accuracy with an imperfect reference standard (41 percent); assessing likely treatment effectiveness in test positive patients when the new test is more accurate than the comparator (18 percent); and determining probable health benefits in those symptomatic patients ruled out using the test (13 percent). A decision framework was formulated to address these problems.

Conclusions: LEA is useful for evaluating medical tests but a stepped approach should be followed to determine what evidence is required for the synthesis.

Individual programs for prevention of cardiovascular disease include dietary and drug treatment of hypercholesterolemia, hypertension treatment, and smoking cessation therapies. In this study, the cost-effectiveness of available cardiovascular prevention programs was assessed in Spain in terms of net cost per life-year gained (LYG). Cost-effectiveness ratios ranged from US $2,600 to $80,000 per LYG in men and from $4,500 to $230,000 per LYG in women. In men aged 40–59 years, the ranking of increasing cost-effectiveness was: smoking cessation ($2,608–3,738 per LYG); treatment of moderate and severe hypertension ($8,564–38,678 per LYG); treatment of mild hypertension ($11,906–59,840 per LYG); dietary treatment ($16,143–20,158 per LYG); and drug treatment of hypercholesterolemia ($33,850–81,010 per LYG). In women, the ranking list was: smoking cessation ($4,482–5,756 per LYG), treatment of moderate and severe hypertension ($9,585–57,983 per LYG), treatment of mild hypertension ($15,248–86,075 per LYG), dietary treatment ($57,175–62,154 per LYG); and drug treatment of hypercholesterolemia ($104,100–259,150 per LYG).

Objectives: Obsolescence is a natural phase of the lifecycle of health technologies. Given increasing cost of health expenditures worldwide, health organizations have little choice but to engage in health technology reassessment (HTR); a structured, evidence-based assessment of the medical, social, ethical, and economic effects of a technology, currently used within the healthcare system, to inform optimal use of that technology in comparison to its alternatives. This research was completed to identify and summarize international HTR initiatives for non-drug technologies.

Methods: A systematic review was performed using the terms disinvestment, obsolescence, obsolete technology, ineffective, reassessment, reinvestment, reallocation, program budgeting, and marginal analysis to search PubMED, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL until November 2011. Websites of organizations listed as members of INAHTA and HTAi were hand-searched for gray literature. Documents were excluded if they were unavailable in English, if the title/abstract was irrelevant to HTR, and/or if the document made no mention of current practices. All citations were screened in duplicate with disagreements resolved by consensus.

Results: Sixty full-text documents were reviewed and forty were included. One model for reassessment was identified; however, it has never been put into practice. Eight countries have some evidence of past or current work related to reassessment; seven have shown evidence of continued work in HTR. There is negligible focus on monitoring and implementation.

Conclusions: HTR is in its infancy. Although health technology reassessments are being conducted, there is no standardized approach. Future work should focus on developing and piloting a comprehensive methodology for completing HTR.

Objectives: Time costs borne by women when undergoing cervical cancer screening have rarely been elucidated, although such costs may pose substantial barriers to care. The purpose of this project was to quantify the opportunity costs associated with cervical cancer screening in young women attending Planned Parenthood Clinics.

Methods: We conducted a self-report survey of 105 women from six clinics to measure travel, waiting, and exam times associated with cervical cancer screening. Respondents recorded their time of arrival and departure, length of time in the waiting room, age, income level, and hours per week they worked outside of the home. Time costs were valued three ways: through self-reported hourly wage, age- and gender-adjusted minimum earnings, and national age- and gender-adjusted hourly wages.

Results: Respondents were on average 24 years old, worked 29 hours per week outside the home, and earned less than $20,000 per year. Mean time for one-way travel was 18.7 minutes; waiting room time was 16.9 minutes; and exam time was 50.8 minutes. Time costs were estimated to be $14.08 per visit based upon the self-reported hourly wage; $16.46 per visit based upon age- and gender-adjusted minimum earnings; and $19.63 per visit based upon age- and gender-adjusted national wage rates.

Conclusions: Time costs associated with cervical cancer screening represent an important opportunity cost and should be considered in studies attempting to identify barriers to screening adherence. Our results indicate that time costs accounted for up to 25% of cervical cancer screening costs. Time costs should be identified, measured, valued, and included in cost-effectiveness analyses of cervical cancer screening.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe a comprehensive continuum that has developed in Ontario between government and key stakeholder groups, including hospitals, physicians, academic institutions, clinical epidemiologists, health economists, industry, and bioethicists to achieve evidence-based recommendations for policy development.

Methods: The various components of the comprehensive model that has evolved to develop an evidentiary platform for policy development are summarized, and the flow between these components is described.

Results: The development of the Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee (OHTAC) and associated programs demonstrate the need to go beyond the traditional steps taken within most health technology assessment paradigms. These components include pragmatic postmarketing studies, human factors, and safety analyses, and formalized interactions with a broad spectrum of potential end-users of each technology, experts, and industry. These components, taken together with an expanded systematic review to include a range of economic analyses, and societal impacts augment the traditional systematic review processes. This approach has been found to be important in assisting decision making and has resulted in an 81 percent conversion from evidence to policy consideration for eighty-three technologies that had been assessed at the time this article was submitted.

Conclusions: The comprehensive model, centered around OHTAC, has added important new dimensions to health policy by improving its relevance to decision makers and providing an accountable and transparent basis for government to invest appropriately in health technologies. This study could also form a basis for further research into appropriate methodologies and outcome measurements as they relate to each component of this approach.

Objectives: The cost-effectiveness of the Swedish quitline, a nation-wide, free of charge service, is assessed.

Methods: The study was based on data of a sample of 1,131 callers enrolled from February 1, 2000 to November 30, 2001. Outcome was measured as cost per quitter and cost per year of life saved. Cost per quitter was based on a calculation of the total cost of the quitline divided by the number of individuals who reported abstinence after 12 months. The cost per life year saved (LYS) was calculated by the use of data from the literature on average life expectancy for smokers versus quitters, the total cost of the quitline, and the cost of pharmacological treatment.

Results: The number of smokers who used the quitline and reported abstinence after 1 year was 354 (31 percent). The accumulated number of life years saved in the study population was 2,400. The cost per quitter was 1,052–1,360 USD, and the cost per life year saved was 311–401 USD. A sensitivity analysis showed that, for outcomes down to an abstinence rate of 20 percent, the cost per LYS rose modestly, from 311 to 482 USD. Discounting the cost per LYS showed the cost to be 135 USD for 3 percent and 283 USD for 5 percent.

Conclusions: The Swedish quitline is a cost-effective public health intervention compared with other smoking cessation interventions.

This article describes the development of health technology assessment (HTA) in Sweden, its influence on decision making, and its link with priority setting. Sweden has a well established governmental HTA body, the Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care (SBU), and an increasing number of regional/local HTA organizations. HTA has had an impact on clinical practice and is used to some extent in policy decisions. Several initiatives have now been taken to develop processes for open priority setting of health-care services. With the establishment of a new agency to undertake reimbursement decisions on pharmaceuticals, and greater patient and public involvement in decision making, it seems inevitable that HTA will play a more important role in priority setting in the near future.

Health technology assessment (HTA) is primarily concerned with the consequences (benefits and costs) of health care and health policy decisions. Because decision making is complex and outcomes are often uncertain, it is helpful to attempt to assess the consequences. The quality of decisions can be improved by a process that provides a consistent framework for identifying and assessing health technologies.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of screening for open-angle glaucoma (OAG) in the United Kingdom, given that OAG is an important cause of blindness worldwide.

Methods: A Markov model was developed to estimate lifetime costs and benefits of a cohort of patients facing, alternatively, screening or current opportunistic case finding strategies. Strategies, varying in how screening would be organized (e.g., invitation for assessment by a glaucoma-trained optometrist [GO] or for simple test assessment by a technician) were developed, and allowed for the progression of OAG and treatment effects. Data inputs were obtained from systematic reviews. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed.

Results: Screening was more likely to be cost-effective as prevalence increased, for 40 year olds compared with 60 or 75 year olds, when the re-screening interval was greater (10 years), and for the technician strategy compared with the GO strategy. For each age cohort and at prevalence levels of ≤1 percent, the likelihood that either screening strategy would be more cost-effective than current practice was small. For those 40 years of age, “technician screening” compared with current practice has an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) that society might be willing to pay when prevalence is 6 percent to 10 percent and at over 10 percent for 60 year olds. In the United Kingdom, the age specific prevalence of OAG is much lower. Screening by GO, at any age or prevalence level, was not associated with an ICER < £30,000.

Conclusions: Population screening for OAG is unlikely to be cost-effective but could be for specific subgroups at higher risk.

Objectives: The AIFA (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco—Italian Medicines Agency) Monitoring Registries track the eligibility of patients and the complete flow of treatments, guaranteeing appropriateness in use of pharmaceutical products, according to approved indications.

Methods: This study describes the Italian pharmaceutical context and the aims and functioning of AIFA Monitoring Registries, focusing on the applications to the Managed Entry Agreements (MEAs) and HTA approaches.

Results: The AIFA Monitoring Registries System has been operational in Italy since 2005. In 2012, the system became part of the NHS Information Technology system, aiming at enhancing appropriate use of pharmaceuticals and efficiency of the administrative activity. Currently, seventy-six medicines are monitored through the system, corresponding to fifty-eight therapeutic indications; individual treatments recorded are more than 515,000, for a population of approximately 505,000 patients. For each monitored product, patients eligible for treatment are registered in the specific therapeutic indication dynamic monitoring database to collect epidemiologic and clinical data, including data on the safety profile, and ex-post information missing at first evaluation stage.

Conclusions: AIFA Monitoring Registries allow the evaluation of the pharmaceuticals’ performance in clinical practice and may promote innovation and quicker access to medicines at affordable prices, for the benefit of patients.

This article describes criteria used by several organizations to select technologies for assessment and the factors that are common to most lists of criteria. It presents a framework or model (called TAPSS) that relates the most important factors. The model can be used to estimate the expected impact of an assessment on health and economic outcomes for a population. It incorporates information on such factors as the health and economic importance of the disease addressed by the technology, the expected impact of the technology on health and economic outcomes, variations in the technology's current use, and factors affecting the production and reception of an assessment. The article includes an example of an application of the method—screening for maple syrup urine disease.