Health technology assessment at the University of California-San Francisco

Over the past thirty years, various efforts have been made to align the incentives of hospitals and physicians to control healthcare costs while assuring the provision of high-quality patient care. One innovative strategy used by some hospitals involves the creation of technology assessment programs to develop a more thorough and objective review process for new clinical technology. The University of California-San Francisco Medical Center has been a pioneer in this area. Its physician-led healthcare technology assessment program has been successful in changing the culture of how innovative technology is evaluated and adopted by the hospital and fostering an increased awareness among physicians of the clinical, financial, and programmatic implications of their technology decisions. We explore the operational characteristics and various effects of this program and highlight the key components to its success and opportunities for improvement in the context of its reproduction at other medical centers.