Organizational and patient-related assessments in HTAs: state of the art

The use and implementation of health technologies do influence and are influenced by organizational structures and processes as well as patient's experiences and actions. The objective of this study is to discuss the content and managing of organizational and patient-related assessments in HTAs.

Quantitative and qualitative analysis were performed based on a review of organizational and patient-related assessments included in a random sample of fifty HTA reports. The reports were identified from INAHTA members' Web sites where homepages of HTA agencies where searched for full HTA reports, published in English or Scandinavian languages.

HTA reports including organizational assessments mainly comprised issues related to process and structure, while issues such as control and evaluation of the technology were included less often. Cultural and environmental issues were included in a little over half of the reports. Reports including patient-related assessments mainly comprised psychological issues. Patients' perceptions of the technology's effect on their health, patient-information, and social and ethical issues were included less often. Few reports included implications for the patient's significant others. There was considerable variation in how comprehensive the issues were managed as there was in the methodological transparency of the HTA reports.

There is room for improvement in the assessments of organizational and patient-related issues. Absence of a description of the considerations made when determining the content and methods of the assessments limits the usefulness of an HTA. The reader is left uncertain of the relevance and validity of the organizational and patient-related assessments.