Background: Due to lack of data, assessments often include modelling or simulation techniques in order to analyse long-term effects. This, in turn requires increasing cooperation of experts from different fields of science such as HTA, statistics, data management, modelling & simulation as well as visualisation. A common understanding on contents, methodology and terminology needs to be developed. In Austria, such a common understanding has hardy been elaborated in a systematic way so far.

Aims of project: It is the main aim of the IFEDH project to support evidence based decision making in health care by a service tool which helps profiting from existing potentials in HTA, modelling, simulation, statistics and data analysis. AP’s1.2 focus is on quality standards of the discipline in general and on the evaluation
of vaccination programmes in particular. The aim is to publish an English review.

Research objectives:
AP1.2:
What are general principles of standardised work in HTA?
Which standards exist to examine data validity in primary studies?
Which standards exist to examine data validity in systematic reviews?
Which standards exist to examine economic studies?
Which standards in HTA-manuals exist to examine modelling?
Which standards explicitly refer on evaluating vaccination programmes?
Which are the limitations that HTA is subject to, regardless of quality standards?

Methods:
AP1.2 & AP2.1: Hand search based on methodological manuals of leading international institutions as well as hand search in other relevant literature.
AP1.2: Description of sources, list of standards and critical synthesis of results in English language;

Results: Internationally available HTA-manuals are highly consistent, especially in structure and the fields of assessing clinical effectiveness and definition of health economic evaluations. According to the system of health service provision, research funding and evaluation in use, they have different foci. There are common standards defined in modelling within HTA, but different countries use the tools of modelling to different extents. There is hardly any literature on the evaluation of vaccination programmes in HTA-manuals. This field can be considered as poorly standardised on a methodological level.