Summer School on Health Technology Assessment
Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is in widespread use in many countries, providing essential information for healthcare decision-makers and regulatory agencies. The relevance of HTAs for market access, medical decision making, pricing and reimbursement of health technologies and interventions has increased dramatically in the developed world during recent decades, and yet, until now, has been almost non-existent in Russia. Addressing this gap between Russian practice and global practice is a vital first-step in improving the effectiveness of resource use in the Russian health sector.
What is HTA?
HTA is a multi-disciplinary, cross-sectoral process informing decisions regarding healthcare technologies at different levels: from hospital level (i.e. to inform the acquisition of costly medical equipment), to Regional/National level (i.e. to recommend the adoption of a new healthcare technology, or the undertaking of specific medical interventions), to the international level (i.e. inform large-scale prevention/intervention campaigns).
Yet the approaches adopted by HTA agencies to assess costs, benefits, health outcomes and ultimately “value for money” vary greatly. This variance, and the underlying methodological disagreements that frame it, is probably to be expected as issues concerning population access to health care represent an ideologically charged and controversial area. In Russia, these issues have barely been touched on to date, and yet they lie at the heart of effective decision making in all spheres of health care. Understanding the power of HTA while being able to critically appraise the merits and shortcomings of different approaches is essential.
The summer school
This 5-day summer school, the first of its kind in Russia, will address this vital topic, starting with 2 days devoted explicitly to the measurement of health benefits, before moving on to consider cost-benefit analysis, cost-utility and cost-effectiveness analysis and other increasingly common methods as well as the design of trial based studies and decision analytic models. The school will be delivered in English by some of the world’s leading experts in this field.
Further details will be posted on our programme page as the event draws nearer.
Who is the summer school for?
The summer school is for anyone – budget sector or private sector – interested in or involved in understanding how to measure the effectiveness of different health care interventions. This includes:
- Professionals and policy makers
- in HTA or government institutions
- in payer and other insurance organisations e.g. what medical interventions to cover
- in the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and related industries
- involved in making health care policy decisions e.g. concerning the essential medicines list and the public funding of different interventions
- Physicians and pharmacists
- in charge of hospitals, hospital departments, outpatient clinics, research units
- involved in evaluating the effectiveness of different interventions and treatment regimens
- involved (or interested) in health care policy-making
- Academics and junior researchers (Phd, Masters students)
- involved in research or education in health economics
- evaluating the effectiveness of health care sector policy
The logistics
Further details concerning contacts, application, registration, venue, accommodation and cost is available on our further information pages.
You can also download our summer school leaflet and our information letter in PDF form.