About Rapid Response Service

Quick Access to Health Technology Information

Constant, rapid, and often expensive advances in medical technologies make evidence-based information more essential than ever in health care decision-making. While comprehensive assessments are used to support many important deliberations, the urgency of some decisions requires a more immediate response. To support these time-sensitive decisions, CADTH launched its Health Technology Inquiry Service in February of 2005. This service is now known as CADTH’s Rapid Response Service.

To request a Rapid Response, see: Services. The Services page also provides information on who is eligible to submit a request and what you might expect in response to your request.

The products typically available through the Rapid Response Service include:

Report Type	Description*	Approximate turnaround time from point of topic refinement**
Reference list	List of the best available evidence with abstracts and links to full-text documents, if available.	5-10 business days
Summary of abstracts	Summary based on the abstracts of the best available evidence. Includes the abstracts and links to full-text documents, if available.	15 business days
Summary with critical appraisal	Written summary of the evidence from full text articles, with a critical appraisal and policy implications.	30 business days
Peer-reviewed summary with critical appraisal	Summary of systematically selected evidence with a critical appraisal and policy implications. An external peer-review is conducted.	Four months
Systematic review and meta-analysis	A systematic review of the evidence and a meta-analysis is performed, where appropriate. Authorship includes a content expert, and an external peer-review is conducted.	4-5 months
Rapid health technology assessment	A systematic review of clinical studies and an economic component that includes a systematic review of economic studies, an economic evaluation or a budget impact analysis. It excludes a review of the health services impact. Authorship includes a content expert, and an external peer-review is conducted.	5-6 months

*These products may be tailored to meet the needs and timelines of the requestor and are subject to the quality and quantity of the published literature.

**The turnaround times are subject to the capacity and ongoing projects at CADTH. Timelines will be negotiated between a CADTH representative and the requestor at the time of topic refinement.