European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC)’s position has been welcomed in the framework of the public consultation regarding the future of the HTA in the European Union.
Click here to download ECPC’s position and annex included to the reply to the consultation
In recent years a number of Member States have introduced so-called health technology assessments (HTA). Typically HTA measures the added value of a new technology in comparison with existing technologies. HTA is a very useful tool, as it helps Member States to decide which health technology to favour at national/regional level and encourages industry to invest in innovation with substantial added benefits for patients.
There is consensus that HTA requires significant scientific, technical and economic expertise, and is costly. Currently not all Member States have such expertise at their disposal. This has triggered the question whether there is a need to strengthen EU cooperation for HTA, in particular for the period beyond 2020 when the current financing of EU cooperation ends (so-called EUnetHTA Joint Action).
The results of this public consultation will feed into the envisaged impact assessment which the Commission services are currently preparing on strengthening the EU cooperation on HTA.
Following ECPC’s commitment to the public consultation, ECPC representative, Francesco Florindi, will participate as a speaker to the Public Conference “The future of HTA in the European Union: from national best practices to EU cooperation” organized by I-Com – Institute for Competitiveness on 8th February 2017, at the European Parliament.
The public conference will see the presentation of the I-Com Paper: HTA in the European Union: state of art and future scenarios.
The implementation of Joint Action for HTA, re-launched by the European Commission in its 2016 work programme, stress the need of an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to healthcare systems across Europe.
The I-Com Paper will explore the compatibility between most significant national experiences of HTA and the purpose of an European standards’ harmonization. The debate, following through the presentation of the I-Com Paper, will gather together European Commission’s officials, MEPs, Patient’s coalitions and industries’ representatives. The strategic aim of the project is to give some relevant policy recommendation about how an integrated assessment process might be able to reduce fragmentation and divergences across Europe, supporting shared deliberations and common final policy decisions on the impact of technologies and treatments.