A major international health conference is taking place in Dublin from 6 to 9 June. With more than 1,000 experts and delegates expected to attend from 44 countries, the conference will be a significant boost to the Irish economy, bringing in an estimated €1.6 million. 

The conference will explore the value of health technology assessment in making decisions about life saving medicines and treatments.

“An emerging area of health research in Ireland, health technology assessment (HTA) is about ensuring that the best treatment possible is delivered to patients within the available resources,” said Dr Máirín Ryan, Director of HTA in the Health Information and Quality Authority, the conference host.

“In increasingly challenging economic conditions, budgets for new treatments are subject to more scrutiny and restrictions than ever before and the role of HTA in making the best use of healthcare resources to increase the benefits to patients is more important than ever”.

“Holding this conference in Ireland is a very good opportunity for professionals and clinicians involved in the decision-making process around drugs and medical technologies to gain an insight into the benefits of HTA”, Dr Ryan said.

Robotic surgery, DNA testing for the HPV virus, cancer screening technologies and patients’ quality of life are some of the themes that will be covered during the four days of the conference, which is attracting leading experts and delegates from all over the world, including from Europe, the US, China, Cuba, Mongolia, Canada, Nepal, Columbia, Australia and Singapore.

Some of the questions to be addressed at the conference, which will be opened by Mary Harney, TD, Minister for Health and Children, include whether all new drugs and medical technologies should be funded by the public healthcare system, if we are getting value for money from these treatments, when should we decide that a drug or technology no longer represents good value and who should be involved in the decision making?

The Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi) 7th Annual Meeting Dublin 2010 will allow healthcare practitioners, researchers, policy makers, administrators, industry representatives, consumer organisations and consultancies, amongst others, to explore the best ways of maximising the value of HTA.

Ends

Further Information: 

Sinead Whooley, Communications Manager, Health Information and Quality Authority

01 814 7488 / 087 922 1941 swhooley@hiqa.ie

Notes to the Editor: 

What is Health Technology Assessment?

HTA is an internationally recognised discipline. It gathers evidence and provides advice to decision makers on whether to fund specific technologies in their health system. The main issues investigated as part of any HTA are:

• Does the treatment or medicine work and for whom?
• What is the benefit to the patient?
• At what cost?
• How does it compare to the alternatives?

Themes to be explored during the conference include:

• How can HTA resources be directed to make the greatest policy impact?
• Should HTA explore disinvestment opportunities as well as investment opportunities?
• How can policy makers’ needs for HTA be better articulated?
• Robust methods remain the cornerstone of HTA. Is there a trade-off between methodological excellence and the cost of undertaking assessments?
• Do complex economic models deliver more reliable results?
• How do we establish best-buy models?
• Given resource limitations, what are the benefits of international collaborations?
• How can we establish what methodological elements transfer across jurisdictions?
• How can HTA methods be harmonised?