Report of the EPTA Conference

Berlin, November 10th, 2000

EPTA conference – Technology Assessment in Biomedicine and Health Care

The conference held in the premises of the Berlin-Brandenbourg Academy of Sciences provided an opportunity for intensive subject-specific exchange between the EPTA institutions. The conference addressed "Technology Assessment in Biomedicine and Health Care". Biomedicine is a topic on the current political agenda of many countries in the light of the progress being made in human genome research and many parliamentary TA establishments have studied this issue from numerous aspects in recent years. This situation was reflected by the many contributions by EPTA establishments in the form of project presentations. Focus was the subject of humane genome research (papers from Great Britain, the Netherlands and Germany and also the European Council) and xenotransplantation (papers from Switzerland, Denmark and Germany).

In recent times, other medical technology issues have joined biomedicine in attracting the attention of parliamentary TA establishments, as was indicated by the presentations of TA projects on the use of EPO in treating tumor anaemia (Austria), on the health risks of silicone implants (STOA/European parliament) and on the subject of telemedicine (Finland).

Technology assessment on medical technology has developed into a special area of technology assessment since the mid 70ies. In many countries institutions specialised in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) have been set up in hospitals and in medical research establishments. However, in most cases there are hardly any working relations or contacts with the parliamentary TA units being set up in parallel in many European countries. Overview papers on the subject of TA in Biomedicine and Health Care - one from the perspective of parliamentary TA establishment and the other from the viewpoint of a Health Technology Assessment Expert (Matthias Perleth, Medical University Hannover) clearly indicated the differences in how the two sides tackle the subject. Both HTA and parliamentary Technology Assessment pursue the goal of providing the most comprehensive possible knowledge about the framework conditions and consequences of the use of new technologies as it is relevant for decision making. HTA for its part centres its work on aspects which are determined by the clinical context (doctor-patient). Focus is on questions of medical effectiveness, cost efficiency, risks for patients or impacts on the patient's quality of life. However, the overview on projects addressed by EPTA institutions on the subject of health/medicine showed that parliamentary TA units, in contrast, study the wider, societal aspects and impacts of the use of new medical technologies. Consequently parliamentary TA primarily focussed on biomedical issues (such as genetic tests and cloning) in recent years, which are chiefly the subject of controversy in the general public and incorporate an ethical debate.

In view of the growing number of special biomedical applications and the growing problems of the public health system, both sides deemed it desirable and necessary to improve cooperation between parliamentary TA geared to policy advice, and Health Technology Assessment which is more geared to medical issues. The conference in the Berlin-Brandenbourg Academy of Sciences can be considered at step towards improving this cooperation.