Artificial intelligence applied in human health technology assessment: a scoping review protocol

This scoping review aims to map studies that applied artificial intelligence (AI) tools to perform health technology assessment tasks in human health care. The review also aims to understand specific processes in which the AI tools were applied and to comprehend the technical characteristics of these tools.

Health technology assessment is a complex, time-consuming, and labor-intensive endeavor. The development of automation techniques using AI has opened up new avenues for accelerating such assessments in human health settings. This could potentially aid health technology assessment researchers and decision-makers to deliver higher quality evidence.

This review will consider studies that assess the use of AI tools in any process of health technology assessment in human health. However, publications in which AI is a means of clinical aid, such as diagnostics or surgery will be excluded.

A search for relevant articles will be conducted in databases such as CINAHL (EBSCOhost), Embase (Ovid), MEDLINE (PubMed), Science Direct, Computer and Applied Sciences Complete (EBSCOhost), LILACS, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection. A search for gray literature will be conducted in GreyLit.Org, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Google Scholar, and the Google search engine. No language filters will be applied. Screening, selection, and data extraction will be performed by 2 independent reviewers. The results will be presented in graphic and tabular format, accompanied by a narrative summary.

Open Science Framework osf.io/3rm8g.