Health Technology Assessment international

Transcription

1 Health Technology Assessment international HTAi Interest Group Steering Committee Meeting Meeting: July 12, 2016, 07:00 (MST) Teleconference, International Participants: Sean Tunis (Outgoing Chair) François Meyer, Board Director (Incoming Chair) Rabia Kahveci, HTA in Developing Countries Wija Oortwijn, Ethics and HTA David Kaunelis, Information Retrieval Group Irene Lenoir-Wijnkoop, Impact of Public Health Interactions / Hospital-based HTA Neil Bertelsen, Patient and Citizen Involvement Franz Pichler, Regulatory Interactions & Conditional Coverage Urs Brügger, Regulatory Interactions & Conditional Coverage Karen Facey, Assessment of Vaccines Programmes Regrets: Hans Peter Dauben, Disinvestment and Early Awareness Emmanuel Odame, Early Career Network Gert Van Der Wilt, Ethics and HTA Marco Marchetti, Hospital-based HTA Ingrid Harboe, Information Retrieval Group Janney Wale, Patient and Citizen Involvement Observers: David Grainger, Board Director Lucy Turner Turner, HTAi Managing Director Anna Williams, HTAi Secretariat Tara Blasco-Raj, HTAi Secretariat Katelyn Pretzlaff, HTAi Secretariat 1. Welcome The meeting was called to order at 07:33h and participants were welcomed by François Meyer and Sean Tunis. Sean Tunis acknowledged that this was the first IGSC meeting since the meeting in Tokyo on May 11, Completed August,

2 2. Declarations of Conflicts of Interest Sean Tunis asked Lucy Turner to remind the Committee what might be a relevant conflict of interest to declare for the purposes of this discussion. Lucy Turner suggested that conflicts of interest be added to the IGSC TOR for review and that the Public Partnerships Working Group may, in time, link it across the Society to ensure that the Committee is transparent. The only particular potential conflict of interest related to the IGSC concerns submissions of projects for funding. No further conflicts of interest were mentioned by the Committee members. Sean Tunis stated that there are no relative conflicts of interest at this point in time, but encouraged everyone to raise any financial conflicts of interest related to that topic at the time of that discussion during the meeting. 3. Approval of the Minutes, May 11, 2016 The minutes from the meeting on May 11, 2016 were circulated and approved. 4. Action Table Karen Facey commented on the complexity of the discussion on May 11 and noted that a number of actions were proposed. She suggested that an action table be implemented for future meetings to monitor the progress of the actions. Sean Tunis noted that the progression of some, but not all, of the actions will be discussed during today s meeting. He suggested that whomever is handling support of the IGs should be responsible for including an action table that tracks proposed actions and their progress. Lucy Turner agreed to ensure that this task is handled by IG support. Actions: An action table will be included in future meeting minutes to track progress of actions. This will be the responsibility of the IG Project Coordinator once the role is filled. All contact information for the IGSC Chair should be updated to François Meyer. The Secretariat will provide Karen Facey with a list of Chairs and contacts for each of the IGs. The Secretariat will connect with Karen Facey to set up a Board Ombud-person. The Secretariat will send for Executive approval of the Technical Officer position and put out a call to the membership for Technical Officers. The Secretariat will set up a Traffic Coordinator for the IGs. [Done Lucy Turner until IG Coordinator position is filled] A deadline for funding proposals will be established. [Done] The Secretariat will put out a call for funding proposals. [Done] The Secretariat, Sean Tunis and François will establish criteria for funding. The next IGSC meeting will be set. [Done] Action: An action table to be clearly included in future meeting minutes to track progress of actions. {Ongoing} 5. Approval of the Agenda The agenda was circulated prior to the meeting. Sean Tunis stated that the meeting will follow up on the topics discussed last meeting in Tokyo, particularly regarding the efforts being paid to provide both technical infrastructure and staffing support to the IGs. The agenda was approved. Completed March 21,

3 Meeting Discussion: Sean Tunis stated that he s been given the opportunity to Chair a number of HTAi-related Sub-Committees and that François Meyer has volunteered to be the new Chair for the IGSC. Sean Tunis will continue to be involved with the IGSC as an observer, but François Meyer will be the primary point of contact for the committee going forward. François Meyer stated he is open to any proposals or suggestions and has a couple ideas in mind, but would like to continue the excellent work that has been done under Sean Tunis supervision. Sean Tunis will stay actively involved with the IGSC and working closing with Francois Meyer and Lucy Turner, as well as the additional secretariat staff being brought on to help with the IGs. No additional comments or questions concerning the Chair update were made. Note: François Meyer is now the IGSC Chair primary point of contact for all future proposals and inquires (f.meyer@has-sante.fr). 6. Assessment of Vaccine Programmes IG Update Sean Tunis stated that the Board recently approved the establishment of a new IG group on Assessment of Vaccine Programmes. Karen Facey spoke of how the of assessing vaccines as pharmaceuticals, discussed at a conference in Washington approximately two years ago, led to the establishment of a panel in Oslo that discussed the policy issues around vaccines. The complex of issues concerning vaccines, especially that of the technology and vaccination programme, unfolded and there is some great modeling work being done with in HTA, but there are differences in how vaccinations programmes are assessed internationally. This panel discussion led to a submission to the Board for the establishment of an IG focused on assessment of vaccination programmes, which was approved this week. Karen Facey noted that in anticipation for approval, a workshop was held to outline the group s focus because ISPOR has set up a working group on vaccines, but they focus on the economic guidelines for vaccines. The IG on vaccines is focused on the policy side of how to organize a vaccine programme. Karen Facey introduced the new IG as the IG for Assessment of Vaccination Programme. During the workshop, two of the IGs gave presentations. The EIG gave a presentation concerning the ethical issues around vaccination programmes and the PCIG gave a presentation on the issues related to vaccinating children and teens. The Assessment of Vaccine Programmes IG plans to move forward on these issues within HTA in an interdisciplinary way to raise questions about how vaccination programmes should be assessed. Although at a very early stage, the IG is currently putting together a Steering Committee and hopes to hold their first meeting in September to set up governance and look at what other IGs have done for that, as well as make policy links. Karen Facey explained that the IG has already established contacts with the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC), but wants to contact with WHO. Mondher Toumi from France has volunteered to be the leader of the IG and Karen Facey will be the coordinator. The IG is very keen to make links with other IGs, particularly Developing Countries. The Assessment of Vaccine Programmes will create a work plan in the fall to be shared with the IGs. Sean Tunis asked if there were any questions or comments on the new IG on vaccines. Neil Bertelsen expressed his interest to get the PCIG more involved, particularly from the citizens aspect, and plans to be in touch about the links that could be made there. Franz Pichler commented that the RICC IG would be happy to help from the regulatory and conditional coverage perspective. Karen Facey thanked Franz Pichler for pointing out that there is Completed March 21,

4 real disparity in the way that vaccination programmes are assessed and it s not just an HTA field, but also the regulatory field. Sean Tunis asked Karen Facey if there are other ongoing and robust work streams in other organizations that the IG on vaccines is looking to tap into or stay mindful of. Karen Facey responded that they know about ISPOR, but are focused more at the policy level at the moment. She explained that ECDC has examined how assessment process vary across Europe and the IG on vaccines would like to extend that to the policy involvement in the US, by establishing links with the US Preventative Task Force, and across Asia Pacific. Karen Facey stated that at the moment, the IG is looking to balance the steering committee to ensure that all the regions are covered. The focus will be on full HTA, including social and ethical issues, rather than a rapid relative effectiveness assessment. Karen Facey asked if anyone from the Public Health Intervention IG could inform them of their work program is to ensure that there is no overlap with the IG on vaccines. She asked if they could be sent a list of Chairs and contacts for each of the IGs. Sean Tunis stated that there shouldn t be a problem in sharing that information and asked Lucy Turner or Anna Williams to provide Karen Facey with the information she needs. Action: Secretariat to provide Karen Facey with a list of Chairs and contacts for each of the IGs. {Done} Wija Oortwijn asked Karen Facey if she reached out to National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) because they are also doing these types of national assessments. She though it might be helpful if members from these groups were part of the Assessment of Vaccine Programmes IG Steering Committee. Karen Facey responded that Mondher Toumi is experienced in the field of Public Health and vaccines, and he has published in the area of NITAGs. The IG also has contacts in ECDC who have worked on the NITAG area. She stated that the IG recognizes that the NITAGs are important and they do not want to duplicate the work of the NITAGs. She commented on the sensitivity of the issue and the differences between the role of HTA in different countries. The IG will make links as appropriate. For example, the Department of Health in the UK is interested in this IG even though this is labeled as HTA. François Meyer confirmed that the link between NITAGs and HTA is important, and although their roles vary between countries, they now work together in many countries. He concluded that Mondher Toumi would be the right person to address that inquiry. Sean Tunis thanked everyone for their input and thanked Karen for putting together the proposal. 7. Infrastructure & Support Lucy Turner stated that the HTAi secretariat will be able to provide support in getting the Assessment of Vaccine Programmes IG set up. 8. HTAi Board Ombuds-persons A Board member is to be assigned to each IG to act as a liaison. Lucy Turner noted that the Assessment of Vaccine Programmes IG will have to be added to that list to be assigned a Board member liaison. She encouraged Karen Facey to contact her with any questions and stated that an will be sent out concerning this matter. Completed March 21,

5 Action: Secretariat to connect the Assessment of Vaccine Programmes IG in regards to a Board Ombud-person. {Need to complete} Lucy Turner stated that there is an issue of consistency around the length of terms for the Chairs, which was touched upon in Tokyo, and could be revisited within the TOR if necessary. 9. Technical Officers Lucy Turner mentioned a proposal, that was discussed and approved by the Board three years ago, that the Secretariat would put out a public call to the membership to encourage divisions of Technical Officers. This position would be for someone in Early Career who wanted to get into a specific content area. This individual would act as a Technical Officer for the IGs on a two-year term to provide minute taking and administrative support, and set up conference calls. It was suggested that the Technical Officer would be compensated with paid travel and registration to the Annual Meeting. Lucy Turner stated that this would, of course, prevent funding for other things such as projects. It is planned to be take this proposal to the Executive level for approval subject to the support and recommendation of the IGSC. Lucy Turner asked for input from the committee and took the silence received as endorsement. Action: Executive committee to approve of Technical Officer positions. {Done} Action: Secretariat to put out call to the membership for Technical Officers. {Pending Incoming IG Coordinator} Lucy Turner noted that the role of the Technical Officer would take away some of the administrative burden from the Chair of the IG. 10. Secretariat Staffing Update Lucy Turner welcomed the new secretariat summer support staff: Katelyn Pretzlaff and Steve Cook. She encouraged everyone to contact Katelyn Pretzlaff with any inquires between now and September. Steve Cook will with helping with the memberships and technical assistance during any transitions should the secretariat move forward on those. 11. Communications Platform Update With regards to the communications platform, progress hasn t been made quite as quickly as desired after the Tokyo meeting. Lucy Turner commented on the various support systems that have been looked into and are still under analysis. Office 365 unfortunately won t support the IGs as required, but the Secretariat, with support of the Executive committee, has narrowed in on another option that would use a communications platform called Chatter. The chosen platform will be pilot tested before it is shared with all of the IGs and will therefore, take a bit more time to implement. In the meantime, everyone should have set up a functioning address. Lucy Turner asked that anyone who has issues setting up an address, or needs assistance setting up a call-in number, should contact her, Anna Williams or Katelyn Pretzlaff. Completed March 21,

6 With regards to staffing support for IGs, Karen Facey asked if Lucy Turner had considered the location of the member assisting the IGs with respect the locations and time zones of the IGs. She pointed out the difficulties in the scheduling meetings, particularly within the PCIG in which there is only one time in the day that suits them and it is very early in Alberta. She suggested that Lucy Turner to check with the IGs that want administrative support to determine what timing works for them. Lucy Turner agreed and responded that she would double check with the Chairs. With regards to the Technical Officer, Rabia Kahveci commented that the Early Career position for IGs was discussed several years ago in Singapore and DC IG took on someone from the Early Career group, who they call Secretary of the IG, to provide such support. Rabia Kahveci stated that they applied last year for grants for this Secretary, but DC IGs proposal for funding was rejected. Rabia Kahveci asked that it be made clear that funding for the Technical Officer is made separate from grants. Lucy Turner responded that if this position is chosen to be allocated funding by discretion of the IGSC, the process would be done within the IGSC and funding would be directly allocated rather than funded through a travel grant. All members agreed. In terms of the secretariat staffing support, Sean Tunis mentioned that there may be issues due to the fact that it might be difficult to comminute with them if they are short term staff. He suggested that there be one person to act as the Traffic Coordinator to distribute information and tasks instead of asking one person to be contacted temporarily. Lucy Turner agreed and responded that she would accept all s, which would help her get to know everyone. She reminded the Committee of the job posting for the IG Coordinator that was approved in May and hopes that by the next time the IGSC meets, there will be someone full-time to support the IGs and link them together within the Society. Action: Secretariat to set up a Traffic Coordinator. Neil Bertelsen asked a progress status on the new website. Lucy Turner responded that the communications platform update is a huge task and the transition will be a large process, but progress has been made. The Secretariat has examined various platforms and will send recommendations to the Executive committee. The timeline is that the backend technical platform be in place by the end of the year and the drop-dead deadline is that everything is set up by the time of, or just before, the annual meeting. In regards to funding, Rabia Kahveci asked Lucy Turner when is the best time to apply for IG funding, as DC IG has some plans and wants to apply for funding. Lucy Turner responded that they were just changing the financial year internally to report on membership at Annual Meeting in June. This year will be a stub year that is, a 7- month financial period up until the end of December. The changes made in Tokyo have been amended and the amount approved for IGs was increased to $30,000 between now and December. The TOR states that the IGSC take ownership of that funding and discuss any processes around the distribution of those funds. It is at the discretion of the Committee and any conflicts of interest should be diluted. Lucy Turner suggested the funds be used to set up Webex, a teleconference service that normally runs approximately $6,000 a year for each IG group, for projects or travel, or it could be used for the Technical Officer in Lucy Turner stated that they would accept proposals regarding this funding. Completed March 21,

7 Rabia Kahveci requested that a deadline for funding be made as soon as possible so that the IGs know whether or not they will receive funding for projects before the Annual Meeting in Rome. She asked that a deadline and guidance be established. It was agreed that due to the fact due to the fact that it s already in the middle of summer and the funds are for this year, a deadline should be established before the next IGSC meeting. Some members worried that an October or November deadline would be too late and Friday, September 16, 2016 agreed upon as the deadline. Lucy Turner asked if the criteria for funding and proposal applications should be up to the IGSC or the Executive Committee. Sean Tunis suggested that the IGSC play a key role in approving the proposals based on the criteria, but the criteria should be established by Lucy Turner, Sean Tunis and Francois Meyer offline and then brought back to the group. Action: Establish a consistent deadline for funding proposals. {Pending SPOT Meeting} Action: Establish criteria for funding by IGs.{Pending SPOT Meeting} Action: Put out a call for proposals. {Done} Neil Bertelsen brought up that $2,500 was recommend to be provided to the IGs during the last meeting and questioned if this amount has changed. Sean commented that the IGSC had a total amount of $10,000 to be allocated for funding during the last fiscal year and it was agreed by the Committee that each of the four IGs that requested funds receive an equal share of that amount, but that was simply how it worked out last year and is not set for each year. Lucy Turner commented that Neil Bertelsen should have been an received an regarding the IGs claim for funding and said that she would follow up with him after the meeting. Action: Lucy Turner to follow up with Interest Groups about last year s IG funding. {Done} Sean Tunis noted that this topic would be followed up on and will be focused on much earlier next fiscal year so that funding application and usage is not rushed at the end of the year. Rabia Kahveci commented that DC IG is quite different from other IGs in that it is not topic oriented. They established a steering committee and asked if any of the other IGs want to collaborate. Suggesting that each IG that has work relevant in Developing Countries have a liaison contact for the DC IG. Karen Facey believed that this was a great idea and expressed her uncertainty concerning the TOR of the IGSC because Lucy Turner is currently working on the communications platform that would allow IGs to share information more effectively with each other. Lucy Turner confirmed that the hope is that there would be a sharing platform for documents and work plans within each IG and across the IGSC. The Secretariat hopes to move ahead for efficiency as best they could and then invite comments and engagement to make it more user friendly. Sean Tunis suggested that Rabia Kahveci discuss with the members of her IG and have them reach out to the Chairs of the other IGs that they would like to work with. Rabia Kahveci said that they will reach out to each IG individually. Wija Oortwijn and Neil Bertelsen expressed their interest to work with and support Rabia Kahveci and the DC IG. Completed March 21,

8 François Meyer expressed his hope that the IGs within HTAi can work together. He suggested that it be almost mandatory for each IG is coordinate and participate together in developing countries. Another call will be scheduled for October. 12. AOB No other business was discussed. 13. Next Interest Group Steering Committee Meeting October 6, 2016 at 7:30 am Edmonton Local Time Completed March 21,