Priority setting for technology adoption at a hospital level: relevant issues from the literature

The increasing pace of development of healthcare technologies obliges hospitals to increase both the rationality and the accountability of priority setting for technology adoption. This paper aims at identifying which are the relevant issues for technology assessment and selection at a hospital level and at grouping them in a reference framework.

An electronic search from January 1990 onwards, covering PubMed, Medline and CILEA, has been carried out in order to collect the relevant contributions. A total of 20 studies were selected from the fields of health policy, management of technology and biomedical engineering.

Two main assessment perspectives have been identified and detailed: value generation at a hospital level and level of sustainability in the implementation stage. Four types of investment in technology at a hospital level have been identified combining the perspectives. Moreover, the two perspectives have been deployed in a list of 19 relevant issues that should be reviewed during the budget process.

The proposed framework can aid priority setting for technology adoption at a hospital level and contribute to increase both the rationality and the accountability of technology assessment and selection in the budget process.