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Pre-Conference workshops are open to conference delegates, non-HTAi members and to those not attending the HTAi Annual Meeting.
Sunday, 6th June - 9:00 - 12:30 - Registration Fee: €50Sunday, 6th June - 13:30 - 17:00 - Registration Fee: €50Sunday, 6th June - Full Day 09:00 - 17:00 - Registration Fee: €100Sunday, 6th June - WHO Workshops - Registration Fee: No Fee but pre-registration is required
Delegates attending the conference can register for a pre-conference workshop when they are completing their conference registration form. To register for the conference please click here. Delegates who wish to attend a pre-conference workshop only and no other aspects of the HTAI 2010 conference, can do so by clicking here.
Maximising the Value of HTA – the Contribution of Early Awareness and Alert SystemsEarly awareness and alert systems (EAAS) also known as horizon scanning or early warning systems have been implemented in many countries to aid decision making and to plan for the impact of new and emerging health technologies on health care systems. In 2009, EuroScan - International Network launched a toolkit for the identification and assessment of such technologies. All member agencies of EuroScan contributed to the toolkit to ensure that different health care systems, contexts and methods were represented. The collaborative approach resulted in a document covering all aspects of EAA processes as well as presenting key questions and offering possible solutions. The toolkit was constructed on the basis of “one size doesn’t fit all”, utilising the heterogeneity of its members. The workshop will present the toolkit and the key stages involved in EAA systems:
Practical examples from EuroScan member agencies will be presented and published research on methods and recent developments drawn upon. There will be interactive exercises focusing on the filtration and prioritisation of important technologies, and early assessment. The workshop will conclude with a panel led discussion session on the contribution of EAASs to HTA. All participants will receive a copy of the EuroScan toolkit. This workshop will be led and facilitated by members of the EuroScan International Network.
Maximising the Value of HTA – Closing the Loop of the Life Cycle of Technologies. Disinvestment or Withdrawal of Technologies of Low Added ValueHealth services providers and organisations have to take decisions on the services that are going to be introduced into the Health System, establishing at the same time the limits on their funding. Bearing in mind the scarce resources in relation to the needs shortfall of the Health System, the use of a resource for specific conditions prevents the same resource from being used in a different condition where it could produce equal or higher benefits (cost-opportunity), and unfortunately, more often than would be desirable, some health resources are invested in technologies that are not the most suitable for a given purpose or represent a "technical" improvement in existing technologies at a price that does not justify its acquisition, making it difficult to comply with Health Care objectives. Sometimes, the investment may not respond to priority needs or may involve technologies that are too complex and incompatible with existing infrastructures and services or require excessively expensive maintenance. This, together with the irrational or inappropriate use, the shortage of health professionals and their lack of training may also lead to a wasteful use of resources, an overall squandering of health services and the loss of funds required acquiring other essential items for Health Care. Recently, different agencies have promoted research in the field of disinvestment of health technologies of low added value and have elaborated guidelines to aid in the process of delisting technologies. The proposed workshop will present the methodological guidelines, experiences and the software developed to structure the process of delisting technologies in the health care systems. At each stage practical examples from agencies that have established the process will be presented. In addition, there will be two interactive exercises focusing on filtration/prioritisation of obsolete technologies and assessment of prioritised low added value technologies. The workshop will conclude with a session on the contribution of disinvestment processes to HTA. Topics:
This workshop will be led and facilitated by:
Introduction to Bayesian Methods for Health Technology AssessmentsParticipants may also be interested in the workshop on Evidence Synthesis. Bayesian inference is a framework which allows evidence from multiple sources including expert opinion, randomised controlled trials and observational studies to be combined in a formal fashion. The use of Bayesian modelling has grown exponentially in the past decade and a large number of Health Technology Assessments now employ these methods.
Introduction to Economic Evaluation in HealthcareThis course is suitable for those with little or no experience with economic evaluation. This introductory workshop is designed to teach healthcare practitioners, new researchers, policy makers, industry representatives and other stakeholders the key issues in the methodology and practice of economic evaluation in healthcare. Participants will learn about the basic aspects of conducting economic evaluations, such as the different types of economic evaluations (e.g. cost effectiveness and cost utility analysis), costing methods, valuation of health outcomes, sensitivity analysis and decision analytic modelling approaches. There will be a session on how the QALY is calculated and the implications of using differing methods. We will also discuss some of the debate surrounding the use of the QALY. Given the growing requirement for cost-effectiveness data by healthcare decision-makers, there will be a discussion of requirements and the perspectives of decision-makers. The impact of economic evaluation on decision-making in different countries will be addressed. The lectures will be delivered by those experienced in conducting economic evaluations of drugs and healthcare interventions from the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics in Ireland and the University of York in the UK. We will also include practical exercises, using real world examples, during the workshop. This workshop will be facilitated by:
HTA 101: Introduction to Health Technology AssessmentThis course offers a lively introduction to HTA for those who are new to the field, as well as for those who seek a refresher course. Developed for international participants and updated annually, this course has been a popular feature of HTA meetings for more than 10 years. This pre-conference workshop will strengthen understanding and participation in other sessions of HTAi 2010. Time is included for questions and discussion. Attendees will receive copies of the workshop materials. This course will emphasize adapting HTA approaches for all types of health technologies and across international settings. The main topics to be covered include: 1. HTA definitions, purposes, and roles in health care policy 2. Health technology: types, applications, lifecycle 3. Factors affecting technology overuse, underuse 4. Properties and impacts assessed in HTA
5. HTA methods and trends
6. Interpreting strength of evidence 7. Priority setting, timing of assessment, and the moving target problem 8. A framework for conducting HTA 9. Sources of evidence and expertise
10. Current HTA trends and emerging challenges
This workshop will be led and facilitated by: Clifford Goodman PhD, Vice President The Lewin Group
Systematic Review of Qualitative Research: An Introduction to Analysing and Synthesising Qualitative Research FindingsThere is increasing interest in broadening the evidence base in systematic reviews to address not just the “does it work?” questions well served by RCTs, but also “how does it work?”, “why?” and “will it work around here?” This may be particularly the case where, for example, the focus is on complex interventions; understanding facilitators and inhibitors of success is vital; or where patient or health professional understandings are sought. Qualitative research may be particularly well placed to address such questions, and several approaches to synthesising findings across more than one study have been developed. This 3½ hour workshop aims to introduce those with little or no experience of qualitative research to methods of analysis and synthesis of qualitative research. It will focus on how to understand a qualitative research report; identifying and categorising the findings; and their analysis and synthesis using frameworks or meta-ethnography. Presentations will illustrate and demonstrate these issues but the majority of the workshop will involve individuals and small groups working through the steps of a synthesis.
1. Why qualitative research? Ruth Garside (Why use qualitative research? What can it offer? Why review and synthesise?) 2. What's this paper about? Mark Pearson (Identifying aims, methods, influences and theories in qualitative papers) 3. Identifying the findings in qualitative research reports. Mark Pearson. (Identifying and categorising types of findings in a qualitative paper, data vs. findings, 1st order & 2nd order concepts.) 4. Analysis and synthesis of qualitative research findings. Ruth Garside (Mechanisms of analysis and synthesis based on types of findings in papers, examples of framework analysis and meta-ethnography) This workshop will be led and facilitated by:
Methods of Meta-Analysis: Synthesis and Appraisal of Empirical EvidenceMeta-analysis of evidence identified through a systematic review is an integral part of health technology assessment. In order to achieve an accurate estimate of average treatment effect for the purpose of determining clinical effectiveness or to inform economic models for evaluating cost effectiveness, the use of appropriate statistical methods is critical. This workshop will explore the principles and practice of: 1. Meta-analysis of data from clinical trials and observational studies including:
2. Meta-analysis of individual patient data, a methodology used to pool data of individual patients, instead of aggregated from different studies. 3. Network meta-analysis, a developing methodology used to go beyond pairwise comparisons in comparing multiple treatment options. These methods allow the combination of complex networks of trial evidence in a single statistical analysis. Meta-analysis is a key component in health technology assessment and a complex area of active research. Therefore, a firm understanding of the basic principles and the emerging methodologies of this discipline of statistical analysis is essential to those who are active in assessing health technologies. In addition, this workshop complements the existing basic skills workshops, and in particular, provides a natural progression for participants who attended courses on ‘economic evaluations’ and ‘systematic reviews’. Presentations:
This workshop will be led and facilitated by:
Exploring Alternative Approaches to ‘Model Busting’: Methods and Experience in the Critical Appraisal of Cost-Effectiveness Models Submitted to Reimbursement AgenciesThe use of decision-analytic modelling is increasingly considered central to the process of HTA generally, and it plays a key role in informing decisions on the reimbursement of health technologies. It is now common that a decision model forms the core of the evidence submissions to reimbursement agencies, serving to synthesise data from a range of sources and facilitating transparency of decision making. The increased emphasis on the decision model as the main vehicle of assessment has led to the development of a number of ‘good practice’ modelling guidelines and checklists both from individual reimbursement agencies and academic groups. Nevertheless, as decision models become ever more complex and sophisticated, the methods of critical appraisal commonly need to be extended to consider the electronic model itself. The extension of the tasks of critical appraisal brings with a need to consider alternative approaches to ‘model busting’ and to learn from existing experience in undertaking these tasks. The purpose of this workshop is to explore current methods and experience of critical appraisal and ‘model busting’ approaches from alternative perspectives (agency, academic and industry) with speakers with extensive experience of working with a range of international reimbursement agencies (including PBAC, CADTH, NICE etc).
This workshop will be led and facilitated by:
Introduction to Ethics in Health Technology AssessmentThis is an introductory basic skills course. This course offers a lively introduction to the role of ethics in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) for those who are familiar with HTA, but who are not that familiar with ethics in HTA. Most importantly it provides a number of approaches for ‘how to’ incorporate an ethical analysis into an HTA. The course has been specifically developed for international participants and is based on recent international achievements in the field. It will emphasize adapting approaches in ethics for all types of health technologies and across international settings. Participants who attend this course will strengthen their understanding and facilitate their participation in ethical assessment in HTA, as well as be able to participation in broader discussions. This 1-day introductory course in Ethics in HTA combines lectures, discussions and case study group work. The Faculty who are leading this course is a group of international experts who have contributed substantially over the last several years to the methodological development in this area. Key topics are: - Why is ethics part of HTA? What is its role and place? - What is the relationship between technology and values? - What are the basic approaches in ethics? - What are the relationships between ethical, social, economic and legal aspects? - Practical approaches for ethics in HTA - What is the role of ethical analysis in the policy decision-making process? - In situations with poor evidence how do ethical issues influence decisions? - What is the role of empirical findings in ethical analysis? Attendees will receive copies of all course materials. This workshop will be led and facilitated by the INAHTA/HTAi Ethics Interest Sub Group. Faculty members are:
Optimizing Information Retrieval Methods for HTA - Towards Best PracticeThe full-day pre-conference workshop organized by the HTAi Information Resources Group will focus on systematic methods to identify studies for HTAs and other evidence syntheses. Information retrieval for HTAs needs to be comprehensive in order to identify those studies which will provide a reliable result, whilst being as efficient as possible to avoid unnecessary expenditure of time and other resources. Over time various organizations have developed policies with respect to information retrieval and whilst there are many similarities there are also some variations across organizations with respect to policy and practice. The morning session will involve presentations outlining policy and practice of the Cochrane Collaboration, CADTH and the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, focusing on key issues of information retrieval such as which sources to search, limits to searches, updating searches and reporting the search process and the search strategies. These presentations will be interspersed with audience participation, reflecting on and comparing the presentations and adding experience from their own organizations. The first afternoon session will be devoted to searching trials registers. Trials registers, results registers and other research registers are developing quickly and provide challenges in terms of identification, efficient searching and record management. This session will involve presentations accompanied by group discussion of several key trials registers, and will focus on the scope of the resources and approaches to structuring searches. Health Technology Assessment agencies assessing the cost-effectiveness of health care technologies need access to evidence from economic evaluations to identify what is known about the cost-effectiveness of a technology and to find information to inform models. Efficient methods to identify economic evidence will enhance the efficient production and robustness of HTAs. The final session will include a presentation on key economic resources and methods of searching them followed by a structured group discussion of the relative value of the key resources, additional key resources and search approaches adopted by different teams. This workshop will be led and facilitated by:
The Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for HTA Annual MeetingPlease note this workshop will run from 09:00 to 10:30 The Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres (WHOCC) for HTA was launched during HTAi 2009 in Singapore and has for current secretariat the WHOCC for Knowledge Translation and HTA in Health Equity based at the Centre for Global Health at the University of Ottawa. The Network aims to link WHOCCs and others across the world involved directly or indirectly in HTA to promote dialogue and collaboration and to strengthen existing projects. We also aim to work in synergy with other HTA organizations and individuals in order to galvanize the HTA community as a whole. The workshop is intended as the annual meeting of the Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for HTA. This meeting is geared for members of the network as well as potential members, which could be not only Collaborating Centres but also other HTA organizations or individuals interested in HTA. Discussions will be led by organizers Janet Hatcher Roberts, co-director, with Peter Tugwell, of the WHOCC for Knowledge Translation and HTA in Health Equity and Maria Benkhalti, coordinator of the WHOCC and secretariat of the Network. The focus will be on reporting on last year’s activities, upcoming planned activities and in depth discussions on how the secretariat and the network overall can meet the needs of its members and to strengthen HTA in their respective contexts. Other invited speakers and participants include World Health Organization coordinator of Diagnostic Imaging and Medical Devices and Essential Health Technologies, Adriana Velazquez and advisor to the Network, Reiner Banken. Registration for this workshop is free of charge but attendees must pre-register. This workshop will be led and facilitated by:
HTA in Developing Countries: where are we and where do we go?The initiation and development of HTA in developing countries is challenged by numerous factors, among which include lack of awareness among stakeholders, resource constrains, existing decision-making systems and resistance to change; are contributory. Recognizing these challenges, individuals, institutions and organizations have been working together to work with or around them. The World Health Organization, especially through its Collaborating Centres (WHO CCs) has been making progress in this direction over the past few years. HTAi, in particular through the Interest Sub Group on Developing Countries (HTAi DC ISG) has been active in this field for a considerable period of time. It is but natural for the two organizations to join hands in the common aim of supporting HTA in developing countries.
This workshop is jointly organized by the WHO, WHO CCs and HTAi DC ISG. It includes presentations on the current status of HTA in developing countries across the continents and regions. The WHO Collaborating centres will project their presence in these countries and summarize the work done so far. The HTAi DC ISG will highlight unique challenges to HTA from the perspective of developing countries. The background presentations on "current status" will be followed by case studies of how some countries across three continents have managed to overcome the challenges and initiated HTA activities, addressing the unique problems relevant to the local health-care setting. This will be followed by a brain-storming session among the WHO, WHO CCs, HTAi and participants to determine how each willing stakeholder can help towards the overall goal of fostering a culture of evidence-informed decision-making in developing countries. An added highlight of the workshop will be the presentation of brief but concrete, feasible action plans (on behalf of WHO, HTAi and developed country partners) to be undertaken within the subsequent 12 months, to achieve the overall goal. Thus this workshop will benefit all interested individuals, institutions and organizations- sharing the common goal of enhancing health-care systems in developing countries, through appropriate HTA. This workshop will be led and facilitated by:
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