New guidelines on evaluating the clinical effectiveness of health technologies for the Irish health service have been launched by the Health Information and Quality Authority for consultation. 

These guidelines outline the most appropriate methods for evaluating the clinical effectiveness of health technologies. By applying the guidelines decision makers can be more assured that the technology is of greater benefit than the existing standard of care, supporting effective decision making around the allocation of funding for technologies.

Martin Flattery, Head of HTA Research and Planning at HIQA, said: “The clinical effectiveness guidelines will help to inform the assessment of health technologies for the healthcare system in Ireland and ensure that higher standard assessments are carried out. They will help to establish that these technologies are effective in achieving a clinically significant impact on a patient’s health. They will also provide clear and robust advice to the people who have to make these hard decisions.”

In the current economic climate, health technology assessments play a vital public-interest role. The Authority believes that these guidelines contribute to better technology assessment and thereby help deliver safer better healthcare to the public.

This document is the third in a series of HTA guidelines produced by the Authority.  Collectively, these guidelines aim to promote best practice in the performance of HTA by all those who undertake this work on behalf of the healthcare system in Ireland.

The Authority is making the guidelines available for consultation as healthcare professionals are being asked to comment on them over the next four weeks. Following this consultation, HIQA will review all submissions received to inform the final content of the guidelines. The closing date for comments is 30 September 2011.

The draft guidelines and information on taking part in the consultation can be found at www.hiqa.ie.

Further Information: 

Sinead Whooley, Communications Manager, Health Information and Quality Authority
Tel: 01 8147488/ 087 9221941 Email: swhooley@hiqa.ie

Notes to the Editor: 

• Clinical Effectiveness Guidelines provide guidance on the methods to be used when evaluating the clinical effectiveness of health technologies as part of health technology assessment (HTA) in Ireland.
• The guidance is the third in a series of HTA guidelines being published by the Authority. The aim of the HTA guidelines is to produce HTAs that provide decision makers with information that is useful, relevant and timely and to ensure that healthcare interventions used in Ireland are clinically effective for patients, are affordable, and are good value for money.
• The first of these guidelines, the economic evaluation guidelines, published by HIQA last year, addressed both the cost of such technologies and the health benefits associated with them.
• The second of these guidelines, ‘budget impact analysis’ (BIA), published last year, helps to predict the potential additional financial impact of the use of a new technology in a healthcare system with finite resources.
• The guidelines will apply to HTA being conducted by, or on behalf of the Health Information and Quality Authority, the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, the Department of Health, and the Health Service Executive (HSE), on all healthcare treatments, including medications, procedures, medical devices, and broader public health initiatives. They are relevant to the assessment of both new and existing healthcare technologies.