OA: Patient advocate perspectives on involvement in HTA: an international snapshot (small study)

Research Involvement and Engagement | Full Text
health technology assessment (HTA) organisations

 Of 16 individuals who received the survey, 15 responded. Three, from Italy, Israel and Japan, were not involved in HTA in their country. Respondents from the following countries reported involvement in HTA processes: Canada, England, Scotland, and Wales, The Netherlands, Australia, Taiwan.

Unexpectedly, snowballing of responses occurred in one of the countries (Canada) – the survey invitation was passed on by the original recipient to fellow ‘patient representatives’ on an HTA appraisal committee. This has led to this country having a high proportion of the total responses. 

 Issues around patient and public involvement in HTA are often discussed under the single umbrella of ‘PPI’, however, a distinction needs to be drawn between patients and the public as their interests are not necessarily aligned and at times may even conflict [13].