Selecting Topics for Health Technology Assessment

Priority setting occurs twice a year, in the spring and fall, and includes three key steps. The first step involves screening proposals; only those linked to a relevant public or practice policy decision are considered. The second step uses a criteria-based approach. Six criteria important to Canadian decision makers are used to help prioritize topics:

• burden of the health condition for which the technology is intended
• availability of alternative technologies
• potential clinical impact of the technology
• potential economic impact of the technology
• potential budgetary impact of funding the technology
• availability of recent technology assessment information.

Scores are assigned to each proposal, and topics are ranked based on the importance of the decision. The third step involves deliberation during biannual in-person meetings at which Canadian health ministry, hospital, and federal government representatives consider the ranking of topic proposals, along with contextual information related to the technology to be assessed. This includes the expected level of interest, the potential controversial nature of the topic, access and reimbursement information, variation in the rate of use, and related jurisdictional research initiatives across Canada.

A topic prioritization process that uses criteria-based deliberation is intended to lead to HTA topics that are of most importance and most relevance to Canadians. This approach also ensures that resources available for HTA work are used effectively. The HTA process: http://cadth.ca/index.php/en/hta/programs/health-technology-assessment/process