World Cancer Day: ECPC launches module to involve cancer patients in health technology assessment process
Date
04 Feb 2019
Sections
Health & Consumers
4 February 2018
Brussels, Belgium
On the occasion of World Cancer Day, the European Cancer Patient Coalition has launched an online education module on Health Technology Assessment. Aimed at patients and advocates, the module explains why, how and where cancer patients and patient organisations can get involved in this decision-making process. In light of on-going political debate on future EU cooperation on HTA, the module will empower all patient organisations to become stronger advocates at national level.
Patients have unique knowledge, perspectives and experiences, and are the ultimate beneficiaries of medical technologies, therefore patient representation is essential at all levels of decisionmaking for decisions directly affecting the health and lives of patients. Although patient participation has been addressed in legislative discussions, it does not provide for adequate
patient participation in the new EU HTA cooperation framework.
Member States and national HTA agencies should institutionally involve patient organisations’ representatives in HTA procedures and, where necessary, provide information and training to facilitate meaningful patient involvement.
“The ECPC educational module will equip our members with knowledge to participate in Health Technology Assessments of cancer treatments and build their capacity to advocate for patient involvement where it is not systematically assured, including the EU HTA cooperation legislative proposal”, said ECPC President Francesco de Lorenzo.
The ECPC educational module on HTA covers areas such as:
- Future EU Cooperation on HTA and legislative progress;
- What is HTA and why it is important right now;
- Involvement of patient organisations in the HTA process;
- How is the value of cancer treatments measured;
- Why do some countries reimburse a cancer treatment and others do not.
The European Cancer Patient Coalition will continue raising awareness on HTA and the importance of patient involvement in the assessment of cancer treatments both at EU level and in the Member States.
The HTA educational module can can be accessed at: ecpc.org/edu/HTA