Impact of Patient Involvement

We recognize the effort that goes into providing patient and clinician perspectives to CADTH reviews of medical procedures, devices, and drugs. Our reviews are used by health ministries and publicly funded drug plans to make funding and use decisions. Patients’ and clinicians’ perspectives contribute to the scientific and democratic legitimacy of our work. 

Some patient groups contribute to our reviews with the aim of securing public funding of a drug or medical device. Some want to highlight the needs of different communities, with a goal of reducing health inequities. Others want to contribute to shared knowledge about an illness or therapy. Input from clinician groups can assist in assessing the evidence and interpreting the findings of a review. Both patient and clinician input and feedback are incorporated into CADTH reports, as well as included in committee briefs.  

CADTH uses patient and clinician perspectives in different ways in our reviews. In our Reimbursement Reviews, we’re often asking: Which patients need this drug? At what cost does the drug provide benefit over what is already publicly funded? Expert review committees reflect on how clinical and economic evidence addresses patients’ needs, as explained by patient and clinician groups. The questions asked by health ministries and hospitals in our Health Technology Reviews vary from review to review. Here again, patients contribute to our understanding of the illness, the device or drug, and how trial data compares to the experiences of patients and caregivers in Canada. 

Every few months, we’ll share updated examples of how insights from patients, caregivers and clinicians are used in CADTH reviews. We hope this will help patient and clinician groups determine their returns on investment when contributing, show what information is of most benefit to CADTH teams and committees, and inspire new patients, clinicians and communities to get involved. 
 

Examples from July to December 2023

Examples from January to June 2023

Examples from October to December 2022 

Examples from July to September 2022 

Examples from April to June 2022

Examples from January to March 2022

Examples from September to December 2021

Examples from March, June, July, and August 2021