Upcoming CADTH Conference Explores Tough Questions and Big Decisions in Canadian Health Care

OTTAWA, April 2, 2014 /CNW/ - Canada's health care system is a $200 billion-a-year enterprise representing almost half of provincial and territorial government expenditures, and it is undergoing a transformational change. Unprecedented advances in research, health knowledge, and information technology are generating complex, new health technologies that provide much hope to patients and health care providers.

But no government and no health system in the world can possibly fund every new health technology that comes to market. How do health care decision-makers choose which innovations and advancements are right for our system and our patients?

 "The reality of health care decision-making is complex, challenging, publicly scrutinized, and politically charged," says Dr. Brian O'Rourke, President and CEO of CADTH (Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health). "With a broader range of innovative choices coming to market and growing pressures on our health care systems, effective technology assessment is essential to our future."

From April 6th to 8th, 2014, over 550 decision-makers, health and policy experts, and industry and patient representatives will convene in the National Capital Region at the 10th annual symposium hosted by CADTH to consider the latest thinking on health technology assessment. The theme of this year's symposium is "The Realities of Health Care Decision-Making: Evidence, Values and Collaboration."

• Alberta Minister of Health Fred Horne will open the symposium with welcoming remarks. Highlights of the symposium include:
• Presentations by global experts and decision-makers including France, Scotland, Switzerland, the United States, and the Netherlands
• The release of Canada's first top 10 list of emerging health technologies by the Canadian Network for Environmental Scanning in Health (CNESH)
• The presentation of the CADTH Recognition Awards, honouring pioneers and rising stars in the field of health technology assessment
• Three plenary sessions, 31 concurrent sessions, 13 workshops, and more than 40 scientific posters.

For more information or for an interview with CADTH's President and CEO Dr. Brian O'Rourke, please contact:

• Andrea Tiwari, Communications Officer, at [phone] x 1247; [email protected]
• Randy Allan, Director, Marketing and Communications, at [phone] x 1557; [email protected].

For more information, visit our website at www.cadth.ca or download the Symposium Program.

About CADTH

CADTH is an independent, not-for-profit producer and broker of health technology assessments. Federal, provincial, and territorial health care decision-makers rely on our evidence-based information to make informed policy and practice decisions about drugs and other health technologies. Find out more at www.cadth.ca.

SOURCE: Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH)

For more information or for an interview with CADTH's President and CEO Dr. Brian O'Rourke, please contact: Andrea Tiwari, Communications Officer, at [phone] x 1247; [email protected]; Randy Allan, Director, Marketing and Communications, at [phone] x 1557; [email protected].