Stakeholder involvement

How does AIHTA involve industry in its health technology assessments?

The Austrian Institute for HTA (AIHTA) assesses a large number of different technologies. Manufacturers can be involved in such assessments in different ways, i.e. the processes may vary depending on the programme line. The following description applies to the assessment of individual medical procedures/MEL, the evaluation of (new) cancer drugs and, depending on the subject area, also to the evaluation of other technologies.

Assessments carried out within the "European Network for HTA" (EUnetHTA) are subject to other processes and procedures (see here).

Which processes are applied?

• Contact before the start of the project: all manufacturers of the assessed technology will be informed by e-mail about the upcoming assessment.
• All manufacturers will be asked by e-mail for non-confidential information on the CE mark and on the functionality of their (and other relevant) product(s). Depending on the subject area, further product-related information may also be requested. All relevant products will be assessed, even if there is no reply or feedback from manufacturers.
• Any critique about an assessment report will be published on the AIHTA website for the sake of transparency and will also be answered publicly.
• All assessment reports will be published on the AIHTA website. The AIHTA newsletter informs on the completion and publication of assessment reports (see newsletter registration here).

Which processes are not applied?

• No submission dossier will be accepted.
• There are no public consultations (public comment procedure) or other types of review by manufacturers.
• There are no meetings or product presentations with the manufacturers.
• The methodology and content of an assessment report are the sole responsibility of the authors of the report and are not subject to discussions with manufacturers.
• AIHTA is not allowed to carry out industry-funded research and does not accept topic proposals from industry.