Hospital-based technology assessment programmes: two Canadian examples

Interest in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) has grown considerably in recent years. Organizations established specifically to conduct HTA and disseminate HTA results have sprung up in many countries. These have been, to a large extent, financed by governments. However, the relevance of HTA clearly goes beyond governments, and there are many sectors in health care that are potential consumers of HTA information. In particular, those running healthcare facilities are constantly faced with decisions on new equipment to purchase and new clinical procedures to offer. HTA is important not just to the senior administrators of such facilities but those in other levels of hospital management as well. In this paper, a brief review of Canadian and US studies on hospitals' technology assessment and acquisition is presented. Two specific examples of Canadian healthcare facilities and how HTA has been addressed in these institutions are discussed. Finally, this paper contains a discussion of some of the practical issues involved in introducing a formalized programme of HTA in hospitals.