Dissemination of HTA products. New lines of action.

1. Dissemination of HTA products. New
lines of action
Casal Acción, Beatriz
López García, Marisa
Varela Lema, Leonor
Alcázar Alcázar, Raimundo
“This document was elaborated within the collaboration framework established by Quality Plan for the National Health System of the Ministry of Health,
Social Services and Equality, under the collaboration agreement signed between the Institute of Health Carlos III, an autonomous organism part of the
Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and the A Coruña University Complex Foundation”

2. Scope
 HTA consolidated its role of providing
the policy-makers and health-
managers with the best available
evidence.
 New audiences: health professionals,
academics, certain industries,
patients and the general public.
 Difficulties to bridge the gap between
agencies and our target audience.

3. Background
National level
 The dissemination of HTA products has been a
strategic area of interest for avalia-t &
Aunet’s agencies.
 Avalia-t has led Aunet’s Working Group of
experts in the Area of Dissemination, 2006.
“Strategies for the diffusion and dissemination of
health technology assessment products”
(Sobrido, et al 2009) Avaliat&Aunets.
 It sets a continuous line of collaboration in
Aunets.

4. Background
International level
 International level
 The International Network of Agencies for HTA (INAHTA):
 WG2 Communication (2002)
 The European Network for Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA):
 WP2 Communications (2006-2008)
 WP2 Dissemination (2010-2012)
 Institute of Health Economics (IHE) “Effective Dissemination of Findings from
Research” (2008).
Some studies show that certain reports do not impact as intended in the target audience:
 [Demands and expectations for health technology assessment: qualitative analysis from the
perspective of decision makers and clinicians] Varela-Lema L et al.2011.
 Maximizing the impact of systematic reviews in health care decision making: a systematic
scoping review of knowledge-translation resources. Chambers D. 2011.

5. Objectives
 Evaluate policies and initiatives for the
dissemination of HTA products (National &
International ).
 Assess to what degree the recommendations
made by the Diffusion Responsible Working
Group (Sobrido et al1, 2009) have been
implemented within the Spanish Network HTA
Agencies diffusion policies.
 Identify improvement areas and propose new
strategies and lines of action.
1-Sobrido Prieto M, González Guitián C, Cerdá Mota T, Group of technicians and experts in documentation and diffusion/dissemination belonging to the
Spanish Health Technology Assessment Agencies & Units. Strategies for the diffusion and dissemination of health technology assessment (HTA) products.
Madrid: Ministry of Science & Innovation; 2009. Report No.: avalia-t Núm. 2007 / 07.

6. Evaluate policies and initiatives for the dissemination of HTA products (I)
Which organizations?
 Spanish Network of HTA Agencies & Units (AUnETS).
 International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA).
Who?
 Technical group:
 Unit of Documentation of avalia-t: bibliographic review and detailed analysis.
 Working group:
 Documentalist and diffusion responsibles of Spanish Network of HTA Agencies
(Aunet’s Working Group): reviewed de draft and agreed upon the recommendations.

7. Evaluate policies and initiatives for the dissemination of HTA products (II)
How?
 Bibliographic review: updating search
(Sobrido et al 2009).
Medline (PubMed), HTA of CRD database,
ISI web of Science and Spanish Medical Index
 Analysis of the organizations.
-National: detailed specific questionnaire
-International: agencies' websites & INAHTA’s
website

8. Evaluate policies and initiatives for the dissemination of HTA products (III)
What aspects?
 Type of documents
 HTA Reports (HTAr)
 Rapid Assessment (RA)
 Early Warning Brief Reports (EWBr)
 Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG)
 Other types: Methodological documents, glossary…
 Targeted audience
 Decision Makers: Policy Makers & Health Managers (PM)
 Health Professionals (HP)
 Patients and General Public (Cz)
 Medical & Pharmaceutical Industry (MI)
 Strategies
 Documental Support
 Identification of techniques and processes of diffusion and dissemination

9. Results: Target Audience
National
 All agencies directed it’s documents to
the decision makers, physicians and
professional associations
 Agencies produced citizen versions: 75%
 Considered the Medical and
Pharmaceutical Industry as a target
audience: 25%

10. Results: Target Audience
International
 All agencies directed it’s documents
to the decision makers
 Health Professionals: 93%
 Agencies produced citizen versions:
14%
 Medical and Pharmaceutical
Industry: 8.7%

11. Type of documents
National
 HTA reports: 100%
 Rapid Assessment: 100%
 Clinical Practice Guidelines: 87.5%
 Early Warning Brief Reports: 50%
 Other types: 37.5%
• Methodological Documents
• Versions for patients, carers & families
• HTA Glossary
• Evaluative Research Reports

12. Type of documents
International
 HTA reports: 100%
 Rapid Assessment: 45%
 Clinical Practice Guidelines: 24%
 Early Warning Brief Reports: 50 %
 Other types: 31.5%
• Methodological Documents
• Versions for patients, carers & families
• HTA Glossary

13. Dissemination Policies
National & International
Channels
 100% / 100% agencies maintained and updated their website.
 50% / 65% agencies published News Bulletins.
 35% / 26% Web 2.0, Twitter being the most used.
 50% / 45% used alert systems or RSS systematically.
Formats (national)
 100% undertook technical sessions
(Hospitals, Primary Care, Healthcare Administration…).
 100% Published medical articles in specialized journals and reported in
congresses.
 All published HTA reports are collected in main International databases
(CRD, Cochrane & Cochrane Library Plus…).
Dissemination (national)
 75%: Agencies have a person responsible for the dissemination area.

14. Implementation of recommendations about policies and strategies
of dissemination 2011
Versions and channels
•A short version for Policy Makers and Health Managers has been developed by avalia-t
and proposed as reference for AUnETS’ working group.
•Currently 75% of AUnETS Agencies have elaborated patient and family versions (0% in
2009).
•Health professionals: indexed articles in Medline (AUnETS’s agencies) has not varied in
relevant number of data references between 2009 and 2011.
•50 % Agencies edit an e-mail newsletter (which has been maintained between 2009 and
the present day).
Impact measure
•According to the results of an external analysis 1, the perceived impact of HTA reports, in
Spain, is low (scarcely cited in investigation papers).
1Parada-Martinez A, Gutierrez-Ibarluzea I. Evaluación del impacto bibliográfico de las agencias y unidades españolas de evaluación de tecnologías sanitarias.
Barcelona: Agència d`Informació, Avaluació i Qualitat en Salut de Cataluña; 2011

15. Recommendations
VISIBILITY:
•Creating and maintaining a common database of ongoing projects to facilitate
inter-agency coordination and the creation of synergies.
•A scientific repository operated and maintained jointly by the AUnETS
network should be implemented.
VERSIONS:
•A short version for HTA products, should be systematically created.
•A scientific paper targeted at the research audience.
DOCUMENTAL SUPPORTS:
•Use of electronic support whenever possible: browseble PDF format.
•New supports: e-books, format for mobile devices…

16. Recommendations
CHANNELS
•Use of web 2.0 and social networking sites should multiply the point access
to the reports.
•The request of a space for HTA products within the national journals
specialized in the field of health-care administration and management.
•Issuing a common electronic bulletin for HTA agencies or a blog.
•Boost AuNets website in order to give it more functionalities and make it
more friendly for internal users and citizens.
GLOSSARY
•Normalize the denomination of documents by a common glossary.

17.  We expect that all these
recommendations will be
useful and help us to bridge
the gap between the
agencies and our final
audience.
Thanks for your attention!
Contact person: Marisa López
To Ceres
avalia-t@sergas.es