title: GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR GOOD PRACTICES IN HOSPITAL-BASED HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT UNITS.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Health technology assessment (HTA) carried out for policy decision making has well-established principles unlike hospital-based HTA (HB-HTA), which differs from the former in the context characteristics and ways of operation. This study proposes principles for good practices in HB-HTA units.
  
  
  METHODS
  A framework for good practice criteria was built inspired by the EFQM excellence business model and information from six literature reviews, 107 face-to-face interviews, forty case studies, large-scale survey, focus group, Delphi survey, as well as local and international validation. In total, 385 people from twenty countries have participated in defining the principles for good practices in HB-HTA units.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifteen guiding principles for good practices in HB-HTA units are grouped in four dimensions. Dimension 1 deals with principles of the assessment process aimed at providing contextualized information for hospital decision makers. Dimension 2 describes leadership, strategy and partnerships of HB-HTA units which govern and facilitate the assessment process. Dimension 3 focuses on adequate resources that ensure the operation of HB-HTA units. Dimension 4 deals with measuring the short- and long-term impact of the overall performance of HB-HTA units. Finally, nine core guiding principles were selected as essential requirements for HB-HTA units based on the expertise of the HB-HTA units participating in the project.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Guiding principles for good practices set up a benchmark for HB-HTA because they represent the ideal performance of HB-HTA units; nevertheless, when performing HTA at hospital level, context also matters; therefore, they should be adapted to ensure their applicability in the local context.
authors.affiliation: Health Technology Assessment Unit,Research and Innovation Directorate,Hospital Clínic de Barcelonalsampiet@clinic.ub.es.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sampietro-Colom
authors.affiliation: Department of Innovation,Fundació Clínic per a la Recerca Biomèdica,Hospital Clínic de Barcelona.
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lach
authors.affiliation: University of HelsinkiandHelsinki University Hospital.
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pasternack
authors.affiliation: Health Technology Assessment Unit,Medical Directorate,Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois.
authors.forename: Jean-Blaise
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0097-8474
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Wasserfallen
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Health Economics and Management,Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.
authors.forename: Americo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cicchetti
authors.affiliation: University Hospital "A. Gemelli"
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marchetti
authors.affiliation: Center for Innovative Medical Technologies,Odense University Hospital.
authors.forename: Kristian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kidholm
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services.
authors.forename: Helene
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arentz-Hansen
authors.affiliation: Center for Research in Healthcare Innovation Management,IESE Business School.
authors.forename: Magdalene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rosenmöller
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Technology Assessment.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wild
authors.affiliation: Health Technology Assessment Unit,Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital.
authors.forename: Rabia
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kahveci
authors.affiliation: Tartu University Hospital.
authors.forename: Margus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ulst
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003657:Decision Making; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D016134:Organizational Policy; D011050:Policy Making; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical
keywords: Best practices; Guidelines; Hospitals; Technology assessment