The Role Of Health Technology Assessment In Improving Healthcare Quality

Given the increasing growth of new technologies in health care and their rising cost, the necessity of concentration on assessing new technologies and their potential role in quality of health care is more crucial. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of health technology assessment (HTA) in improving healthcare quality and offer the best evidence for decision makers. The study was based on systematic review of papers in health technology assessment via searching in databases such as Pubmed, Cochrane and other HTA related databases. The search has covered the period between years 2000 to 2013. Studies analyzed by narrative synthesis method. Related studies show that assessing new technologies has potential role in quality improvement of healthcare. HTA can boost the competition among companies which this in turn increases the quality of technologies and ultimately enhances the quality of health services and stakeholders satisfaction. HTA may increase quality of healthcare services through facilitating a move towards evidence-based decision-making, providing safe health care and increasing patients’ trust and satisfaction to clinical procedures and team members.