Terminology and Understanding of Early Awareness and Alert Activities

EuroScan members have been able to learn from the experiences of other members and the systems they work within to gain a broader understanding of early awareness and alert activities. A common terminology has been deliberated upon and agreed.

Terminology

Health care technology: encompasses all methods used by health professionals to promote health, prevent and treat disease, and improve rehabilitation and long-term care. These methods include pharmaceuticals, devices, diagnostics, procedures, programmes, settings, and public health activities.

Early awareness and alert systems for new and emerging health technologies aim to:

  1. identify new technologies that have the potential to make a large impact on health and/or health services,
  2. filter and prioritise these technologies to select those most likely to have a significant future impact,
  3. make an assessment of likely impact in terms of health, service and financial impact, and
  4. disseminate the resulting information to relevant decision-makers.
  5. monitor assessed technologies

An early awareness and alert system focuses on health technologies that:

  • are new: a technology in the phase of adoption that has only been available for clinical use for a short time and is generally in the launch or early post-marketing stages or
  • are emerging: a technology that is not yet adopted by the health care system; pharmaceuticals will usually be in phase II or phase III clinical trials or perhaps pre-launch; medical devices will be prior to marketing, or within 6 months of marketing, or marketed but <10% diffused or localised to a few centres or
  • represent a change in indication or use of an existing technology, or
  • are part of a group of developing technologies that, as a whole, may have an impact.

Prioritisation Criteria

Early awareness and alert systems use prioritisation criteria to select technologies that require further assessment of their potential benefits, costs and service impacts. Technologies are generally prioritised when one or more of the following are present:

  • Significant uncertainties regarding health benefit or cost effectiveness, or
  • Some health benefit if the technology diffuses widely,
    • a technology that is an innovative therapy for a disease or disorder with no satisfactory standard treatment;
    • or a new, potentially more effective therapy, measured by relevant outcomes, than standard treatment;
    • or a new therapy with significantly fewer known side effects or long term adverse effects than the standard treatment.
  • Significant cost impact if the technology is widely diffused because of moderate to high unit costs and/or patient numbers and/or service re-organisation requirements, or
  • Potential for inappropriate diffusion (fast or slow) or use of the technology, or
  • Other significant impacts such as staff retraining needs, or service re-organisation, or
  • Significant legal, ethical, political, environmental or social issues associated with the use of the technology.