Patient involvement in HTA

Ann Single, co-editor of the recent book ‘Patient Involvement in Health Technology Assessment’, considers the essential role of patient experience in HTA and Neil McGregor-Paterson, director, Realitas Consulting, examines the role of pharma in this area, in Deep Dive: Market Access II.

Health Technology Assessment (HTA) may consider many aspects of a health technology, including its clinical, economic, ethical and social impact. It is a policy tool to consider if, when and how a new therapy or product will be used. As such, HTA involves critical review of scientific evidence, coupled with interdisciplinary discussions and value judgements about the relevance of the evidence to the local healthcare system and its patients.

As such, patient involvement plays an essential role in contributing the needs, preferences and experiences of patients. It can shape the questions asked about a technology and ensure that issues that matter most to patients are considered.

Health Technology Assessment international (HTAi), a global scientific and professional society for all those who produce, use, or encounter HTA, has, through its Patient and Citizen Involvement in HTA Interest Group (PCIG), defined the characteristics of good quality patient involvement in HTA through five values for involvement. Read more about these in the full article, which covers the following points:

Patient involvement can shape the questions asked about a technology and ensure that issues that matter most to patients are considered.
Patient-based evidence can be very powerful when it is a synthesis of qualitative, quantitative or mixed-method studies.
It is important that pharma should support patient involvement at arm’s length and with total transparency to avoid conflicts of interest.