Application of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis in the development of a health technology assessment program

There has been recent interest in developing a health technology assessment (HTA) function in Estonia. A group of individuals knowledgeable about HTA in Canada, Germany. Romania and Spain, along with representatives of the Un iversity of Tartu, Estonia, was convened by the Institute of Health Economi cs in Edmonton, Canada, to consider options for such a function. In a one-d ay workshop strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analyse s of HTA were conducted, first at a 'global' level, and then of the Estonia n situation. The 'global' SWOT analysis yielded a large number of items tha t pertain to institutionalized HTA in a generic sense, i.e. not based on an y individual HTA agency. The 'Estonian' SWOT yielded a subset of items, whi ch pertain to development of HTA in that country. Ten actionable steps were then developed on the basis of this subset, which could be used to initiat e the creation of an HTA body in Estonia. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.