HTA Course Overview

Course Description:

Modern health technologies, including pharmaceuticals and medical devices, have been revolutionized health-care delivery over the last century. However, increased reliance on these technologies has been an important contributor to rising health-care costs. This has led to an interest in evidence-based decision-making to support the introduction of technologies into routine practice and evaluation of existing technologies. Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is a multi-disciplinary field that uses methods from Clinical Research, Health Economics and Health Policy to summarize evidence from research studies in a form useful to policy makers. This short course will introduce students to some of the basic concepts in health technology assessment - the need for HTA, producers of HTA, components of a HTA (systematic reviews, meta-analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, decision making) and the impact of HTA.

Course Instructors:

· Nandini Dendukuri, Department of Medicine (Division of Clinical Epidemiology), McGill University; Technology Assessment Unit, McGill University Health Centre

· James Brophy, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health & Department of Medicine (Division of Cardiology & Division of Clinical Epidemiology), McGill University

Guest speakers:

· Laurie Lambert, Institut National d’Excellence en Santé et Services Sociaux, Quebec

· Alice Dragomir, Department of Medicine (Division of Oncology), McGill University

Credits: 2

Prerequisites: Exposure to introductory level courses in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, preferably EPIB-601 and EPIB-607 or their equivalent.

Evaluation: Class participation and group presentation

Schedule: 9am-4:45pm, June 12-16 2017

Location: Room #25, Purvis Hall, McGill University, Montreal