Health policy, health technology assessment, and screening in Europe

Objective: To present a summary of the papers in this volume, illustrating the links between health technology assessment (HTA), health policies and s pecifically policies toward prevention and screening, and implementation of screening tests in the case of three screening methods: mammography screen ing for breast cancer, screening for prostate cancer, and routine use of ul trasound in pregnancy. Method: To commission papers from eight European countries based on a set o f questions to be answered, as well as a paper synthesizing the scientific literature on the three screening procedures. Results: Indicate that few of the countries examined have developed effecti ve links between HTA, health policy, and implementation related to screenin g procedures. Only Sweden and the Netherlands appear to have developed such links. In the other countries, HTA has a limited role in determining healt h policy. It also seems to be uncommon for countries to have a specific pre vention strategy. Conclusion: The major conclusion is that countries of Europe need to develo p HTA as part of prevention policies.