History

CCOHTA to CADTH: Our History

The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) is a national body that provides Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial health care decision makers with credible, impartial advice and evidence-based information about the effectiveness and efficiency of drugs and other health technologies.

The organization is an independent, not-for-profit organization that was conceived by Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial ministers of health in 1989. Originally named the Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment (CCOHTA), the organization opened its doors on a three-year trial basis in August of 1990. Its mandate was to provide Canadian health care policy managers with evidence-based information on emerging and existing medical devices. And by January of the following year it had begun releasing its first technology reports.

In 1993, the Conference of the Deputy Ministers of Health declared CCOHTA a permanent entity. Pharmaceutical reviews were added to the organization’s mandate, and CCOHTA’s budget more than tripled.

CCOHTA’s next milestone came in 1994 with the publication of Canada’s first-ever set of guidelines for the economic evaluation of pharmaceuticals. The document grew out of a 1993 Canadian Collaborative Workshop on Pharmacoeconomics attended by representatives of Canadian health care jurisdictions and selected international experts. The guidelines, which have undergone subsequent revisions, are used throughout the country to assist producers of economic evaluations in generating credible, standardized economic information that is relevant and useful to decision makers in Canada’s publicly funded health care system.

Also in 1994, CCOHTA was made accountable for the Canadian Standards Association’s (CSA) Health Care Technology Program whose mandate is to provide national, regional and international leadership in standardization within the field of health care technology. CCOHTA’s role included reviewing CSA’s annual work plan and recommending program budget levels to the Conference of Deputy Ministers. That role remains ongoing.

In 1997, CCOHTA introduced its horizon scanning service, the Canadian Emerging Technology Assessment Program (CETAP), and released the first Emerging Technology Bulletin. Today called Issues in Emerging Health Technologies, these popular, concise, peer-reviewed bulletins provide information about drug and non-drug technologies not yet widely used in Canada.

Encouraged by CCOHTA’s rapid growth, in 1999 the Conference of Deputy Ministers (CDM) of Health approved the organization’s first five-year business plan that laid out a much more ambitious vision for what the organization could became. The CDM also increased CCOHTA’s budget substantially to increase the organization’s capacity for horizon scanning and health technology assessments, and to launch outreach activities to improve the connection between CCOHTA and its stakeholders.

In early 2002, the Conference of Deputy Ministers asked CCOHTA to undertake, on an interim basis, the Common Drug Review (CDR), a single process for reviewing new drugs and providing listing recommendations to participating publicly-funded federal, provincial and territorial drug benefit plans in Canada. The review process is intended to provide consistent and rigorous reviews of new prescription drugs so public drug benefit coverage can be directed to the most cost-effective and therapeutically beneficial drugs. CDR became a permanent entity at CCOHTA in 2003 and federal government funding for health technology assessment increased.

At about that same time, CCOHTA undertook an environmental scan and held consultations with key stakeholders. The exercise revealed an obvious need to increase awareness about CCOHTA, its products and services, and the ways in which evidence-based information can support decisions about health technologies. CCOHTA took steps to bridge the gap between itself and its stakeholders by launching the Liaison Officer Program in 2003. The program places Liaison Officers within the provinces and territories to actively engage with jurisdictional health care decision makers and create strong links between CCOHTA and its stakeholders.

In 2004, CCOHTA continued to expand with the creation of the Canadian Optimal Medication Prescribing and Utilization Service (COMPUS). Launched in March of that year, COMPUS, in partnership with the federal, provincial, and territorial health ministries, identifies and promotes optimal drug prescribing and use among health care providers and consumers. It is the first service of its kind anywhere in the world. CCOHTA received an initial five-year funding agreement from Health Canada to deliver the COMPUS program.

Also in 2004, Canada’s Health Ministers approved a new Canadian Health Technology Strategy (HTS 1.0). The Strategy arose from the 2003 Accord on Health Care Renewal which included a commitment to develop a comprehensive strategy to assess the impact of health technologies and provide advice on how to maximize their effective utilization. The Strategy, which confirms CCOHTA’s status as Canada’s health technology agency, represents a collaborative approach towards ensuring that Canadians have ongoing access to appropriate health care technology.

In 2005, CCOHTA’s HTA program, which also includes the CETAP program, introduced the Health Technology Inquiry Service (HTIS). The service was established to provide Canadian health care decision makers with access to available health technology information, based on the best available evidence, in a quick and efficient manner. HTIS responds to inquiries about drugs, devices, and procedures. Depending on the urgency and/or complexity of the request, information is provided within anywhere from 24 hours to 30 business days.

Over the years, CCOHTA has transformed from an organization whose mandate related strictly to evidence-based information on emerging and existing medical devices. With the addition of CDR and COMPUS and further responsibilities spelled out for the organization in HTS 1.0, it was felt the organization needed to rebrand to reflect those changes. On April 3, 2006, the Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment was reborn as the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH), a name that better reflects the breadth of services the organization now provides to Canadian health care decision makers.

Today, CADTH works closely with national and international partners and has become a recognized world leader in health technology assessment. Its mandate continues to grow and the organization continues to evolve in support of its goal which is to facilitate the appropriate and effective utilization of health technologies within health care systems across Canada.