Inhalt

Welcome to the HTAcademy

"Healthcare technology is defined as prevention and rehabilitation, vaccines, pharmaceuticals and devices, medical and surgical procedures, and the systems within which health is protected and maintained." (Definition by INATHA)

"Technology assessment in health care is a multidisciplinary field of policy analysis. It studies the medical, social, ethical, and economic implications of development, diffusion, and use of health technology." (Definition by INATHA)

Preface

Demographic change and medical breakthrough will necessitate and result in even more advancements in healthcare. In order to have the continuing ability to offer medical achievements of the highest quality, we need efficient means of handling our existing resources.

That is where the systematic process of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) comes in – as an important instrument in making health economic evaluations. It looks at the reciprocal effect of uses, costs, and risks, as well as it examines and assesses the effects of medical procedures and technologies. HTA reports should cover, as completely as possible, the reality of providing care, while at the same time serving as a decision-making aid for all those involved in healthcare. Thus the underlying scientific methodology of a HTA report must be constantly examined and developed, in order to meet these requirements and the dynamics inherent in healthcare.

In order to support the further development of Health Technology, the research based pharmaceutical company Pfizer and renowned experts in the field of HTA created the HTAcademy. Following its successful start in Germany last year, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland are now joining the project. The goal of this European program is to support up-and-coming scientists in their work. These may come, for example, from the fields of medicine, health economics, or medical ethics. An interdisciplinary scientific committee will select the scholarship winners and ensure an independent and transparent selection process.

Last year's scholarship was honoured to Ms Dimitra Panteli, for her project proposal entitled "Addressing equity in HTA Production: An analysis of equity aspects within current HTA domains and possible tools for creating more equitable assessments". Ms Dimitra Panteli has already worked on the topic "equity" in HTA research during her master thesis as part of her master class "health and society" held at the Charité in Berlin. More information about Ms Panteli and her project proposal is available here.

We are pleased to be able to contribute, together with you, to the further advancement of Health Technology Assessment.

With best regards,

On behalf of the national Pfizer organisations which offer the program
On behalf of the national scientific committees of the scholarship program HTAcademy

 

Clare McGrath
Senior Director HTA Policy,
Europe/ROWD

Prof. Urs Brügger
Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften,
Winterthur

Prof. Wolfgang Greiner
Universität Bielefeld

Prof. M. J. Postma
Universität Groningen

Prof. Hugo Robays
Universitair Ziekenhuis, Gent