Perleth M, Jakubowski E, Busse R; International Society of Technology Assessment in Health Care. Meeting.

Annu Meet Int Soc Technol Assess Health Care Int Soc Technol Assess Health Care Meet. 1999; 15: 79.

Department of Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health System Research, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.

PURPOSE: This interdisciplinary project aims at developing a framework for the definition of 'best practice' in health care. Its focus is on Health Technology Assessment (HTA), Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) and clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG). The project is funded by the European Commission. Objective of the project is to develop a strategy for the European Union (EU) which could translate into EU-wide action in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the European health care systems. METHODS: The concept is based on an extensive literature search comprising key articles on HTA, EBM and CPG and all relevant related disciplines (e.g. outcomes research). The origin of the term 'best practice' in the EU was undertaken. Drafts of the synthesis document were discussed with experts in these fields from several European countries. Recommendations to the European Commission were developed in a consensus process. RESULTS: The framework for the definition of 'best practice' in health is an iterative loop. It consists of the overriding concept of health care (including public health) based on reliable evidence (Evidence-based Health Care). Evidence is synthesised and concluded either as an evidence base (EBM and most of HTA) or in the form of recommendations (CPG and some HTA) for different decision purposes in health care. These activities gain input through 4 major disciplines: Clinical Research, Clinical Epidemiology, Health Economics and Health Systems Research. The different disciplines are related to each other in three 'domains', input, implementation and outcome. Recommendations to the EU are centered around improving availability and use of evidence (including systematic reviews), promote existing activities in best practice and enhancing the availablity of data throughout the EU such as a register system for European public health. CONCLUSIONS: It is evident from our study that there is scope for action by the EU that goes beyond the capacities of the Member States. Our concept of 'best practice' offers a way to bundle several conceptually related but still independent disciplines in a way that may have the potential to improve performance of health systems and thus population health.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Biomedical Technology
• Delivery of Health Care
• Ethnic Groups
• European Union
• Evidence-Based Medicine
• Health Planning Guidelines
• Research
• Technology Assessment, Biomedical
• hsrmtgs

Other ID:

• HTX/20602405

UI: 102194094

From Meeting Abstracts