The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has launched a public consultation on proposed changes to the way it develops recommendations across its health technology evaluation programmes.
The proposed changes aim to provide greater predictability for industry, greater transparency for stakeholders and enable swift decision making.
Taking place from 19 August until 13 October 2021, the consultation is the culmination of a comprehensive review, which has involved health system partners as well as industry, healthcare professionals, academia and patients.
The overarching ambition of the proposals are to provide earlier access to new treatments; more equitable access to treatments for those with severe diseases, as well as ‘greater clarity and predictability’ of health technology assessment outcomes and enhanced flexibility in the use of a comprehensive evidence base, including the use of real-world data.
Professor Gillian Leng CBE, NICE chief executive, commented: “As NICE grows in importance for the health service in England, so do expectations from all our stakeholders for what our methods and processes can do for them. Chief among these is how we can reflect and enable the broader vision of the life sciences industry, patients and the service for accelerated access to innovative health technologies while managing risk and ensuring the NHS gets value for money.”
Future modular updates for the methods are set to include health inequalities, digital technologies, genomics and antimicrobials alongside processes for managing technologies with multiple indications and rapid entry to managed access.
