About Health Technology Assessment (HTA)

The market is flooded with generally expensive technologies, treatments and drugs that are often presented as innovative and promising. The aim of the HTA studies is to assess the effectiveness and the safety of these technologies, treatments and drugs. The researchers also attempt to measure the cost effectiveness of the treatments or technologies studied: is the health benefit in proportion to the cost? Does the technology or treatment offer an affordable added value?

KCE made HTA projects one of the foundations of the KCE’s mission. Not because they are a means of justifying savings in the health sector, or as a barrier to the introduction of new technologies, but because they can be used to support the public authorities in their desire to offer added value to patients and to use the available resources as efficiently as possible.

Innovation does not necessarily mean higher healthcare costs. Innovation means offering better and less expensive products. Through its HTA studies, the KCE contributes to optimal allocation of the limited resources available.