Organisational impact map for health technology assessment

In this methodology guide, the HAS has sought to clarify the aspects associated with the organisational impacts of health technologies by drawing up a map aimed at both defining these impacts and proposing criteria to measure their effects or justify them.

The organisational impacts created by a health technology can have a structural role in multiple aspects of the healthcare system and affect different actors: patient, carer, healthcare professional, healthcare facility, service provider, etc.

They are frequently claimed or mentioned in the context of the assessment of a medicinal product, medical devices, or diagnostic and therapeutic procedures; they also represent one of the eligibility criteria for economic assessment. However, this aspect of assessment is still rarely documented.

A map to structure the assessment of the organisational impacts of a health technology

Firstly, the map specifies the context of the health technology under assessment with reference to whether a conventional care solution is available or not.

It also helps structure how the organisational impacts of a health technology may be identified according to the different actors concerned with a classification based around three macrocriteria:

• macrocriterion 1: impacts with a direct effect on the components of the care process;
• macrocriterion 2: impacts with an effect on the skills and capabilities required of the actors involved to implement the care process;
• macrocriterion 3: impacts on the general population.

For each macrocriterion:

• choice of criteria corresponding to the most relevant organisational impacts according to the actors concerned;
• proposal of indicators to describe each criterion selected and identify the data to be provided;
• examples of health technologies to help the user understand the scope of the impact studied and its characteristics.

The map does not indicate how the organisational impacts of a health technology will be taken into account in each HAS committee (CNEDiMTS, CEESP, CT) and by the HAS Board.