Improving access to innovation from international health technology assessment.

Abstract

The field of health care has evolved from an emphasis on evidence-based medicine, with a focus on efficacy, safety, and tolerability, to the pursuit of evidence-based efficiency and sustainable innovation in many respects (healthcare budgets, carbon print, etc.). This evolution can be attributed, in part, to the contributions of health technology assessment (HTA) bodies, which have facilitated the incorporation of various factors into the decision-making process (). These factors include comparative effectiveness, quality of life, efficiency, budgetary impact, and organizational impact, among others. Within the domain of health care, irrespective of the perspective of each entity (e.g., Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency, etc.), there is an imperative for the presence of evidence and its assessment in the most transparent manner possible, with the objective of ensuring the incorporation of healthcare technologies.