Panels

Can analytical methods for combining randomized with non-randomized evidence address issues around uncertainty and build trust when estimating treatment effects for new technologies? The panel will debate this and explore the potential of using these novel analytical methods in HTA. It will also propose a newly developed framework for their integration in decision-making and explore acceptance of its use.

Digitalization in healthcare is perceived as the “holy grail” for efficient health care systems. While they present challenges and opportunities; available assessment methods are scarcely used.  Moreover, there is no agreement on which type of information decision makers need to invest. The panel aim to debate challenges and opportunities of current and potential future assessment models and real cases

Limited number of Eastern European countries have well-established roadmaps for HTA implementation. Based on experiences from Romania, Ukraine, and Moldova, perspectives from WHO, and learnings from supporting HTA capacity building, this session aims at delineating common barriers and enablers to HTA implementation, determining key learnings and transferability of implementation strategies, and how these may help others in tailoring HTA roadmaps.

Vaccination of older adults is a key component of a healthy ageing strategy. Deliberations on COVID-19 vaccination prioritization highlights challenges related health technology assessment (HTA) of vaccination in elderly. The panel will discuss the challenges in HTA assessment of vaccines for the older adults and suggest recommendations for a sustainable assessment framework. On behalf of the HTAi Public Health Interest Group  

Patients are at the heart of HTA. IJTAHC has published a special issue on patient involvement in HTA, featuring a wide range of papers from across the world.  This panel will draw on these papers to consider the role of patients in HTA publishing from the perspectives of a researcher, a patient, a publisher, and an editor. 

There is a growing demand in LMICs for tools such as health technology assessments (HTA) to aid evidence-informed priorities, so that policy makers can make well-informed decisions when allocating scarce resources. In this panel, speakers will share experiences and a future vision for how HTA can inform evidence-informed priorities to support UHC in LMIC. 

As companies develop more sophisticated and targeted approaches to developing novel treatments, regulators have responded with initiatives to accelerate the availability of medicines which target an unmet need. NICE and NHSE&I are therefore required to find a solution early in the product lifecycle, which can exacerbate clinical uncertainties when decisions are required. Managed access is one potential solution. 

Patient involvement, a core principle of NICE’s work, has changed in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic required innovative updates to involvement processes, consultations, and decision-making meetings. We share patient involvement case studies across NICE’s medicines and non-medicine HTAs and Covid-19 rapid guidelines, exploring different panellists’ perspectives (committee lay member, patient organization and NICE patient involvement staff).

This panel session will give the audience the opportunity to improve their understanding of emerging developments in health technology performance assessment, reassessment, and disinvestment in selected countries – with emphasis on real-world data, patient involvement, clinical ownership, and monitoring of implementation – and to discuss lessons for the future in these and other countries.

Non-randomised studies are increasingly required to support the assessment of innovative technologies. However, the potential of such data has been limited by concerns regarding systematic error. In this panel, experts in the field will provide insights into the latest methods to account for systematic error and discuss the relative merits of these approaches in the context of HTA decision making.

The focus on capability as a measure of well-being is a relatively novel concept. The capability approach (CA) makes explicit a person’s internal and external factors, and their abilities to convert these factors into valued modes of being. This session explores how HTA can rethink the value of health care through incorporating the CA in its framework and methodology.

This interactive panel session will report back and build upon the discussions from the 2021 GPF. An introductory presentation will summarize the discussions and major outcomes of the GPF meeting, and will be followed by reactions from HTA, industry, payer, and patient stakeholder representatives. Interaction with the audience will be enhanced by live polling.

The lack of guidance on deliberative processes for HTA has created the need for consensus international good practices. Since June 2020, HTAi and ISPOR are collaborating to address this gap in global decision making by coordinating a joint task force on deliberative processes for HTA. This panel aims to deliberate the results of the task force with the HTAi community.

Patient engagement in HTAs and health-care decision-making is critical. Patients have the understanding and perspectives of their conditions, they provide valuable insights to their needs and preferences. This panel discusses patient involvement from the perspective of different stakeholders. It debates how reliability, transparency and relevance of healthcare decision-making can be enriched by systematically seeking patient voice early in the process..

The development of new regulatory and HTA methodologies and the deliberations over how to deal with new innovations have traditionally occurred separately in regulatory and HTA agencies. This panel will debate whether regulatory science has aligned goals with HTA, or whether there is still divergence between these areas.

Detailed consideration of the form of Patient Involvement (PI) appropriate for each HTA is required to ensure responsible use of resources and time, both for HTA bodies and patients. This session will share some insights on current PI challenges in medical devices HTAs to promote the use of a stepped guide on how to do PI in rapid-cycle HTAs.

Comprehensive Genomic Profiling (CGP) can improve patient outcomes, but is seen as unaffordable for routine adoption, despite its potential for downstream savings. This panel will debate the benefits and barriers of widespread CGP adoption and explore approaches that decision-makers can use to assess its long-term value, while considering if and how it can be implemented using current access pathways.

GINAHTA is a collaboration between the Guidelines International Network (G-I-N) and the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA). It was created to strengthen linkages between the guideline and HTA communities. This panel, organized by GINAHTA, aims to foster collaboration, methods and resources’ sharing between HTA and clinical practice guidelines communities.

Novel interventions for rare diseases often come with a small evidence base, major uncertainties and high prices. IMPACT-HTA has developed a new appraisal framework for rare disease interventions, including guidance on use of PROs in clinical and cost effectiveness and implementation of Outcomes-Based Managed Entry Agreements. This panel will discuss feasibility of the framework in the EU and internationally.

Combination regimens are increasingly common in oncology and can provide important benefits for patients. Costs can be high, however, which can lead to concerns around value for money and limit patient access. This Panel will provide an overview of the issues and possible solutions, and promote discussion between stakeholders on the roles of industry and HTA/payers in addressing the challenges.

Nowadays, pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals in combination with new diagnostic and medical devices are considered the key elements of the future of health care. However, regulation of medical devices industry is far behind from regulation of pharmaceutical industry, which is associated with wider range of products, complexity of medical devices classification and difficulty of their assessment and expertise.

Patients using inter-operable medical devices to manage their diabetes have enormous variation in access; particularly among people in lower-socioeconomic-status populations.  This is despite robust randomized and observational evidence. This panel explores critical factors in patient access across England/Wales. HTA, payer (CCG/health-board), clinician and patients will be represented, drawing on primary research from each group.  Key VBHC recommendations will be discussed.