SwissHTA Project
These incentives are being taken up and developed further with this project
- an inclusive process open to Swiss HTA stakeholders;
- taking into account existing experiences with formal HTAs in other countries;
- with explicit reference to the status of international development in the relevant scientific disciplines, including health economics;
- focusing on the expectations (i.e. the “social preferences”) of the Swiss population;
- taking into account the implications for operationalizing the criteria of the KVG for efficacy, suitability and cost-effectiveness;
- with clear standards for a differentiated evaluation of new and existing technologies.
Structuring of the project
The Swiss HTA project was initiated by representatives of santésuisse, Helsana, Interpharma and Roche jointly with Professor Michael Schlander (University of Heidelberg) at a meeting in Zurich on 12 July 2010 after intensive preliminary discussions during the first half of 2010. The agreed framework and the project objectives were put in writing in a working paper entitled “Objectives of the project – ‘Assessment of medical interventions in social health insurance: development of a Swiss consensus’” dated 21 July 2010 (see Annex 3).
On this basis, santésuisse and Interpharma invited interested Swiss stakeholders to collaborate. This led to a project team made up of Christian Affolter (for santésuisse), Thomas Cueni (Interpharma), Pius Gyger (Helsana), Ansgar Hebborn/Claude Cao (Roche), Daniel Herren (FMH), Stefan Kaufmann (santésuisse), Heiner Sandmeier (Interpharma), Michael Schlander (University of Heidelberg) Peter Suter (SAMS) and Andreas Faller (for the FOPH with observer status). The Chatham House Rule was agreed on as the basis for collaboration in the project team built on trust.
The project work received scientific support from a Scientific Steering Committee, consisting of Michael Schlander along with health economics Professor Robert Leu (University of Berne) and Professor Gérard de Pouvourville (ESSEC, Paris).