gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: The main aim of horizon scanning systems (HSS) is to identify new and emerging health technologies (EHT) that may have an impact on patients, clinical practice, public health or health systems. Efficient prioritization is essential to select those technologies with a potential impact on the system. In order to provide stakeholders with information for prioritization, the Spanish Network of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Agencies (RedETS) has produced a brief document. The aim of this work is to describe the brief document and analyse its weaknesses.

Method: Using the Spanish HTA prioritization guidance as framework, RedETS Horizon Scanning (HS) working group has developed a methodological protocol to establish the HS process. This document explains the criteria used to filtrate and prioritize technologies. From this information, the HS group designed a brief document to be used in the stakeholder prioritization process. A qualitative analysis of the short document in terms of content, sources, timelines and extension was developed within the HS RedETS working group. This analysis included a survey to identify problems and limitations of the brief document.

Results: The document was structured in 10 sections:

1.

brief description of the technology,

2.

target population,

3.

type of technology and use,

4.

contribution of the new technology in relation to the technology in current use,

5.

location or setting where it is applied,

6.

available clinical evidence,

7.

burden of disease,

8.

expected changes in clinical and organisational practice,

9.

ethical and legal implications,

10.

economic implications, and

11.

expected speed of dissemination.

The sources of information used are mainly biomedical databases and information from developers. The brief document is developed by HTA experts and reviewed internally. Production takes place on average in one week and the length must not exceed four pages, excluding references. The survey results show that “available clinical evidence” is the most difficult and time consuming domain. In addition, domains 4, 8 and 10 are also difficult to complete.

Conclusion: The use of pre-defined prioritization criteria provides transparency to the process, but requires the availability of enough information to support it. HTA experts in the RedETS, have pointed out that some domains are more difficult and time consuming. Therefore, writing the brief document could be challenge. The structure and design of the brief document should be regularly reviewed to ensure it fits the purpose of informing stakeholders without consuming too much resources.