title: LOOKING BACK ON 5 YEARS OF HORIZON SCANNING IN ONCOLOGY.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The regularly structured adaptation of health technology assessment (HTA) programs is of utmost importance to sustain the relevance of the products for stakeholders and to justify investment of scarce financial resources. This study describes internal adjustments and external measures taken to ensure the Horizon Scanning Programme in Oncology (HSO) is current.
  
  
  METHODS
  Formal evaluation methods comprising a survey, a download, an environmental analysis, and a Web site questionnaire were used to evaluate user satisfaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The evaluation showed that users were satisfied with HSO outputs in terms of timeliness, topics selected, and depth of information provided. Discussion of these findings with an expert panel led to changes such as an improved dissemination strategy and the introduction of an additional output, that is, the publication of a league table of emerging oncology drugs. The rather high level of international usage and the environmental analysis highlighted a considerable overlap in topics assessed and, thus, the potential for international collaboration. As a consequence, thirteen reports were jointly published based on eleven "calls for collaboration." To further facilitate collaboration and the usability of reports for other agencies, HSO reports will be adjusted according to tools developed at a European level.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Evaluation of the impact of HTA programs allows the tailoring of outputs to fit the needs of the target population. However, within a fast developing HTA community, estimates of impact will increasingly be determined by international collaborative efforts. Refined methods and a broader definition of impact are needed to ultimately capture the efficiency of national HTA programs.
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Technology Assessmentnachtnebel@gmx.at.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nachtnebel
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Technology Assessment.
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Breuer
authors.affiliation: Internal Medicine V: Haematology & Oncology,Medical University of Innsbruck.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Willenbacher
authors.affiliation: Department of Finance,University of Vienna and Hauptverband der Österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bucsics
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine with Hematology and Oncology Steiermärkische Krankenanstaltengesellschaft m. b. H. Krankenhausverbund Feldbach-Fürstenfeld.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Krippl
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Technology Assessment.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wild
mesh_terms: D026683:Advisory Committees / Q000458:organization & administration; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001364:Awareness; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D011050:Policy Making; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical / Q000458:organization & administration*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents
keywords: Awareness; Biomedical; Cooperative behavior; Health policy; Program evaluation; Technology assessment