Identification and priority setting for health technology assessment in The Netherlands: actors and activities

This article describes the actual situation at, the beginning of 1999 with regard to identification and priority setting for health technology assessm ent (HTA) on a national level in the Netherlands. For this purpose the lite rature on HTA published in 1980-1998, mainly national, was thoroughly revie wed. Many policy documents and other reports from the 'grey literature' of identification and priority setting for HTA in the Netherlands were also us ed. The results show that attempts to identify and set priorities for HTA i s a new activity in the Netherlands. The three most important actors in the field are the Health Council, the Council for Health Research and the Heal th Insurance Council. Methodologies differ depending on the content and sco pe of each programme. In addition, the methods used are not always transpar ent and the activities are not co-ordinated. The lack of co-ordination is d ue to the fact that there is no single organisation that is authorised to i dentify and set priorities for HTA. Suggestions for improving co-ordination are proposed with the aim of developing a truly national effort in this fi eld, which will enable a more balanced and efficient set of HTA activities. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.