European health technology institute for socio-economic research
Launched in October 2007, the European Health Technology Institute for Socio-Economic Research (EHTI) was created to address the lack of empirical evidence on the socio-economic value of medical technology, to contribute to developing relevant knowledge for researchers and industry, and to enhance prospects for informed policy decision-making and patient choices.
Research Programme
The research is focused on two major areas: financing of medical technology and the socio-economic value of medical technology. Research on the first topic hopes to unveil the potential to increase efficiency by addressing – for instance – the problem of silo-budgeting ; the second topic aims to identify who - in addition to patients and health professionals - gains from technological innovation.
First results
During a workshop at Bocconi University on 20 April 2009, Rosanna Tarricone, Executive Director of the EHTI, provided an overview of the current state of play of research in Health Technology Assessment (HTA), needs for future research and potential hurdles that would need to be overcome to achieve a harmonisation of HTA across Europe. Her main message to the audience was that harmonisation currently would not only be difficult to achieve but even dangerous for health systems given the level of evidence available about its implications. Zeger Vercouteren, industry representative at ETHI's Research Council in his remarks pointed to existing evidence that a HTA process which is transparent and open to professional groups, industry and patient organisations will ultimately result in a better outcome for patients across Europe.
On 22 June 2009, during the 6th International Health Technology Assessment Conference in Singapore, EHTI presented the first results of its research on the contribution of technological innovation to health outcomes and healthcare systems. The results show that medical technology brings substantial advancements in health and economic benefits – saving lives, reducing major adverse events and complications, and shortening patient time in the hospital.
On 26 June 2009, the EHTI presented the results of research concerning the German and Italian reimbursement situation especially for innovative technologies at the European Health Management Association's (EHMA) annual conference in Innsbruck, Austria.
Partners
The Research Institute is an independent centre for research built on a close collaboration between leading academic institutions (Technische Universität Berlin, Università Bocconi and the London School of Economics and Political Science) and the medical technology industry.