About HAS
The Haute Autorité de santé (HAS) - or French National Authority for Health - was set up by the French government in August 2004 in order to bring together under a single roof a number of activities designed to improve the quality of patient care and to guarantee equity within the healthcare system. HAS activities are diverse. They range from assessment of drugs, medical devices, and procedures to publication of guidelines to accreditation of healthcare organisations and certification of doctors. All are based on rigorously acquired scientific expertise. Training in quality issues and information provision are also key components of its work programme.
HAS is not a government body. It is an independent public body with financial autonomy. It is mandated by law to carry out specific missions on which it reports to Government and Parliament. It liaises closely with government health agencies, national health insurance funds, research organisms, unions of healthcare professionals, and patients' representatives.
HAS has been built on 3 founding principles: a very broad field of action, which means that it can compare a range of healthcare initiatives; a high degree of scientific rigour; and independence.
HAS' organisational structure and resources
The HAS Board provides governance. Each Board member heads a specialist Committee and is responsible for a specific mission or specific aspects of a mission. The organisation is divided into several divisions which implement the strategic work-plan conceived by the Board. The annual budget is 60 million euros. HAS has 350 permanent staff but can call upon over 3000 experts.
New
MRI-guided VABB is a breast biopsy technique used for percutaneous histologic tissue acquisition of non palpable breast lesions, only detected by MRI and having neither sonographic nor mammographic correlates. This minimally invasive needle biopsy technique reduces the need for open surgical breast biopsy in patients with benign lesions and allows for optimal preoperative work-up and surgical planning through definitive diagnosis in patients with breast cancer. Our objective was to evaluate technical success rate, safety and diagnostic effectiveness of MRI-guided VABB and determine its clinical indications for use. Specific practice and facility requirements for reimbursement in France were equally assessed
21/12/2011
The French health insurance agency asked the HAS to determine strategies for the use of iron metabolism markers. In fact, the volume of procedures carried out in relation to all such tests which are reimbursed by the health insurance agency increased by 109% between 2000 and 2008. Furthermore, some tests appear to be redundant or irrelevant according to the latest French recommendations, (ANDEM, 1995). In this assessment, the HAS has focused on iron deficiency and has not looked at iron overloads, since professional recommendations issued by the HAS in 2005 on haemochromatosis still appear to be valid
14/06/2011
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