HISCREENDIAG

Building a Tool to Evaluate and Improve Health Investments in Screening and Diagnosis of disease

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Over recent decades, the possibilities for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease have expanded throughout the EU. As a result, health policy decision makers and public funders are faced with the challenge of making choices for health investments to improve the healthy life expectancy of Europeans within the context of constrained resources. Health investments include any new technology for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of disease. It is not clear to which extent recent decisions on such health investments have been optimal. Public funders sometimes evaluate the impact of health investments, but there is a lack of standardised procedures and criteria. This is even more the case for investments related to screening and diagnosis of disease, and in particular gene technologies. The objectives of this study are: 1. to set up a set of common criteria (a ‘tool’) for the evaluation of health investments related to screening and diagnosis (HISD) in Europe, with a special focus on gene technologies; 2. to guide the better alignment of procedures between all (old and new) MS; and 3. to improve the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of future HISD. Literature reviews will identify existing methods for evaluating health investments and summarise existing procedures and criteria within member states (MS) for making and evaluating decisions on HISD. In parallel, stakeholders will be invited to participate in a survey allowing a better understanding of the commonalities and differences between MS. Based on this, a draft tool, comprising procedures and criteria for evaluating HISD will be proposed. The draft tool will be assessed by a panel of experts guiding its iterative development. A list of recent HISD in MS will then serve as subject for testing the practical applicability of the tool. Finally, ways for implementing the tool and for the evaluation of HISD in MS will be proposed together with recommendations and political implications at EU level.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Genetic tests used for screening and diagnosis of disease have become more common and have the potential to considerably improve patient outcomes and quality of life. Researchers have recently developed a toolkit that can be used to fully evaluate the impact of new genetic tests in the health care system.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Health technology assessment (HTA) is an evidence-based approach used to assess clinical, economic, ethical, social and organisational aspects of new clinical methods and techniques by means of well-established guidelines. For genetic testing in clinics, however, HTA guidelines are lacking.

For this reason, the EU funded a project entitled 'Building a tool to evaluate and improve health investments in screening and diagnosis of disease' (HISCREENDIAG). The main objective was the construction of a tool to evaluate the potential impact of investments in genetic screening and diagnostic tests in areas of public health.

Researchers used surveys and interviews to investigate the current state of health investments across the EU in relation to genetic testing and with a focus on common tests. Evaluation processes, tools and criteria were found to be scattered or non-existent, and a common decision-making tool is, yet, not available.

Using the tenets of HTA, as well as evidence gathered from the literature and surveys, researchers designed a comprehensive new toolkit consisting on procedures, guidelines and criteria. The toolkit was refined through stakeholder workshops, resulting in an evidence-based tool that will be useful for evaluating genetic tests for clinical use in the future.

The HISCREENDIAG project has thus created an objective framework for evaluation, with decision-making tools for health investments standardised across the EU.