Abstract
Although health technology assessment (HTA) and healthcare quality improvement are distinct processes, a greater level of alignment in outcome measures used may increase the quality and efficiency of data collection. This study evaluates the agreement in outcome measures used in oncology for healthcare quality improvement and HTAs, and how these align to the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) standard sets. We conducted a cross-sectional comparative analysis of ICHOM sets focusing on oncological indications and publicly available measures for healthcare quality and HTA reports published by the National Health Care Institute from the Netherlands and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence from the United Kingdom. All ICHOM sets and HTAs used overall survival, whereas quality improvement used different survival estimates. Different progression estimates for cancer were used in HTAs, ICHOM sets, and quality improvement. Data on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was recommended in all ICHOM sets and all HTAs, but selectively for quality improvement. In HTAs, generic HRQoL questionnaires were preferred, whereas, in quality improvement and ICHOM sets, disease-specific questionnaires were recommended. Unfavorable outcomes were included in all HTAs and all ICHOM sets, but not always for quality improvement. Although HTA and quality improvement use outcome measures from the same domains, a greater level of alignment seems possible. ICHOM may provide input on standardized outcome measures to support this alignment. However, residual discrepancies will remain due to the different objectives of HTA and quality improvement.
Highlights
Health technology assessment (HTA) and improvement of healthcare quality are distinct processes
There are differences in the specific outcome measures used in quality improvement and health technology assessment (HTA), there is agreement in the domains applied
Information on survival, progression, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and unfavorable outcomes seems to be important in both HTA and quality improvement. These domains are incorporated in International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) standard sets, and, may potentially be important to patients. Both in HTA and ICHOM standard sets, overall survival is used as a survival estimate, and this type of information is important for quality improvement, different estimates are used
Summary
Health technology assessment (HTA) and improvement of healthcare quality are distinct processes. In HTA, the use of real-world data, which may originate from clinical practice, is increasingly used to complement data from clinical trials [5] and provide input on quality of care. This indicates that some overlap in the information used for quality improvement and HTA decision making seems to exist
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
