Health technologies for the improvement of chronic disease management

Based on the research conducted by HQO and its partners, the Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee (OHTAC) — a standing advisory sub-committee of the HQO Board — makes recommendations about the uptake, diffusion, distribution or removal of health interventions to Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, clinicians, health system leaders and policy-makers. [...] Technologies fell into 3 categories: those with evidence for the cure of chronic disease, those with evidence for the prevention of chronic disease, and those with evidence for the management of chronic disease. [...] After an initial review of research on chronic disease management and hospitalization rates, consultation with experts, and presentation to the Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee (OHTAC), the review was refocused on optimizing chronic disease management in the outpatient (community) setting to reflect the reality that much of chronic disease management occurs in the community. [...] HQO partnered with the Programs for Assessment of Technology in Health (PATH) Research Institute and the Toronto Health Economics and Technology Assessment (THETA) Collaborative to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the selected interventions in Ontario populations with at least 1 of the identified chronic conditions. [...] Malabsorptive techniques work by bypassing parts of the gastrointestinal tract to limit the absorption of food (e.g., biliopancreatic diversion, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass); restrictive techniques decrease the size of the stomach for the patient to feel satiated with a smaller amount of food (e.g., gastroplasty, gastric banding).