International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care

Table of Contents - 2010 - Volume 26, Issue 02  

EDITORIAL

Technology on probation

Gert J. van der Wilta1

a1 Professor, Epidemiology, Biostatistics & HTA, Head of HTA section, Radboud University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, 6500HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands Email: g.vanderwilt@ebh.umcn.nl

One of the key tasks of governments and their advisory bodies is to decide what the nature and quality of the evidence should be which they use to support their policies. Evidence, as pointed out by Valerie Miké, is inherently incomplete, provisional, and subject to refutation (4). So when are we justified to presume sufficient value of a healthcare technology, warranting its public provision and funding?