Health technology assessment processes
Procedures for approving the use of new health technology in Australia will be examined to make it easier for new devices and services to be adopted, while maintaining patient safety.
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18 December 2008
Joint Release
The Hon Nicola Roxon MP
Minister for Health and Ageing
The Hon Lindsay Tanner MP
Minister for Finance and Deregulation
Procedures for approving the use of new health technology in Australia will be examined to make it easier for new devices and services to be adopted, while maintaining patient safety.The Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, and the Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner, announced today that a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Review would be undertaken as a joint exercise between their portfolios.
Minister Tanner and Minister Roxon announced that “The HTA Review will be one of the first Better Regulation Ministerial Partnerships to be undertaken by the Australian Government, as part of its commitment to deregulation, to reduce costs to business and consumers, and contributes to the Government’s productivity agenda.”
The HTA Review will consider ways of streamlining, increasing timeliness and better
co-ordinating arrangements for approving new health technology, to support innovation without compromising consumer safety. It will also assess ways to ensure that only medical services and devices which are clinically proven and provide value for money attract government funding.
It will also incorporate the Government’s response to the 2006 Banks Review “Rethinking Regulation” and to recent Productivity Commission Regulatory Burden reports which recommended action to reduce fragmentation, duplication and unnecessary complexity in the regulation of medical devices and technologies.
The Department of Health and Ageing will conduct the review, in close consultation with the Department of Finance and Deregulation. The review will consider processes for:
- regulation of therapeutic goods before they are released for sale, currently undertaken by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA);
- approval of Medical Benefits Schedule funding, currently advised by the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC); and
- listing of prostheses and devices for private health insurance coverage, currently advised by the Prostheses and Devices Committee (PDC).
“The HTA Review is an important step towards an integrated model for evidence based assessment of health interventions. It will identify both short term improvements in assessment processes and possible longer term options for strategic reform,” Ms Roxon said.
The HTA Review is expected to report in late 2009.
For media enquiries to Ms Roxon please contact the Minister's Office on 02 6277 7220
For media enquiries to Mr Tanner please contact the Minister's Office on 02 6277 7400
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