Decisions on the status of health technologies

Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research 7 Decisions on the Status of Health Technologies Aubry (1) comments that economic analysis is not part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield criteria for evaluation of clinical effectiveness and that the heart of the criteria is the second point. [...] Recommendations on support made in the assessments were informed primarily by the strength of the evidence, the severity of the disease or condition for which the technology was used and by the availability and performance of alternative technologies available in the Alberta health care system. [...] Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research 19 Decisions on the Status of Health Technologies Of the older technologies in Table 5, the first three had limited evidence of effectiveness, on the basis of literature reports, but provided reasonable approaches when compared with the options available to the patients concerned. [...] Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research 23 SECTION 4: SUGGESTIONS FOR DECISION MAKERS Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Decisions on the Status of Health Technologies FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CRITERIA FOR DECISION-MAKERS The concepts developed by AHFMR for the modified Delphi study and the approaches in the individual assessments parallel a number of points made in the litera [...] Finally, both assessors and decision-makers may need to consider the availability of adequate competency within the health care system in the operation of the technology and the availability of necessary infrastructure to support its use.