The EU HTA Stakeholder Network meeting focused on the involvement of patients in the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) process. Together with the European Patient’s Forum (EPF) and other patient organisations, EFA highlights the crucial role of patient experiences and insights in shaping effective healthcare assessment and ensuring that the voices of those directly affected by medical innovations are heard and inform the assessment process.
On 11 June, EFA participated in the 3rd meeting of the European Commission Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Stakeholder Network held in Brussels, together with all other stakeholder member organisations, as well as representatives of the European Commission and the Member States’ representatives in the HTA Coordination Group.
The meeting was allowed for in-depth discussions about the implementation of the HTA Regulation adopted in 2021, as well as the roll-out of its implementation strategy to be completed by the end of 2024. Member States experts presented different guidelines that the HTA Coordination Group and subgrups had been working on for joint HTA procedures, including one on the comparisons used to evaluate technologies, another one on the Joint Scientific Consultations (JSC) and another one on the measurement of outcomes for Joint Clinical Assessment (JCA).
On the stakeholder consultation on draft implementing Regulation on JCA for medicinal products, to which EFA , the Commission informed that it received over 120 replies, and the Implementing Regulation was adopted in May, due to be applicable from 12 January 2025. The second implementing Regulation up for consultation is the one on the rules for assessing and managing conflicts of interests of experts involved in the HTA process, this is patients and healthcare professionals.
The meeting also focused on the involvement of patients in the HTA process. The European Patients forum (EPF) presented the 10 recommendations for enhancing the JCA under the HTA Regulation, which have been developed by leading patient organisations across Europe, including EFA. The joint paper highlights the crucial role of patient experiences and insights in shaping effective healthcare assessment and ensuring that the voices of those directly affected by medical innovations are heard and integrated in the process.
During the meeting, the Commission also informed about the stakeholder events they are organising to inform about the implementation of the HTA Regulation at national level. The Commission will organise two new regional information sessions, ‘From theory to practice: Implementing the EU Health Technology Assessment Regulation’:
- A session on 6 September, 9:00 – 12:30 CET with a focus on the implementation of the HTA Regulation in Hungary, Croatia, Czechia, Slovakia, and Slovenia, for which you may find the registration (online participation) here.
- A session on 5 November, 9:00 – 12:30 CET with a focus on the implementation of the HTA Regulation in France and Germany, for which you may find the registration (online participation) here.