Canadian Network to Produce a Top 10 List of New and Emerging Health Technologies in Canada

OTTAWA, Jan. 8, 2014 /CNW/ - Of the countless innovative technologies emerging on the health care horizon, which ones truly hold the greatest promise of improving the lives of patients and the Canadian health care systems? It's a challenging question confronting today's health care decision-makers, and one that inspired the creation of the Canadian Network for Environmental Scanning in Health (CNESH). CNESH is now inviting the community at large to help it find the answers.

"Our first major initiative will be a Top 10 list of new and emerging health technologies that may have the potential to transform the delivery of health care," says Professor Ron Goeree, chair of CNESH and director of the Programs for Assessment of Technology in Health (PATH) Research Institute at McMaster University. "And we realized that the best way to come up with this list was to invite nominations from the full range of stakeholders, industry, government, clinicians, hospitals, academia, the public, anyone anywhere in the world with knowledge of what's in the pipeline."

The nomination form for the Top 10 list is available online at www.cadth.ca/cnesh. Nominators will be asked to provide the name and manufacturer of the technology they recommend for the list. Nominators will also be asked to provide supporting documentation such as clinical trials and other information that can explain why and how a particular technology may be a game changer. Clinical effectiveness, patient survival, quality of life impact, safety, or costs to the health care system are elements that the nominating committee will consider in finalizing the Top 10 list.

Professor Goeree is careful to point out that, for CNESH, the term "health technologies" refers to medical and dental devices, diagnostics and procedures, as well as drugs — anything that can be described as a "health intervention."

The Top 25 innovative health technologies, which will be short-listed by the CNESH Prioritization Committee, will be posted publicly in the spring of 2014. CNESH will announce the Top 10 at the 2014 CADTH Symposium taking place in the National Capital Region, April 6th to 8th.

"New interventions have always come along and changed the face of health care. Look at what insulin has done for people with diabetes or the amazing benefits of laparoscopic surgery for gall bladder removal," says Professor Goeree. "But the age of the information technology has dramatically accelerated the pace and volume of innovation. Staying current has become a daunting task for the people managing our health care systems.

"Our goal is to support a sustainable Canadian health care system by scanning the horizon and identifying technologies with a powerful impact potential."

CADTH provides secretarial and operational support to CNESH. For more information about CNESH and the Top 10 nomination process, please contact Andra Morrison, [email protected].

SOURCE: Canadian Network for Environmental Scanning in Health

Andra Morrison, [phone]