The outcome of IHE initiatives is providing better information for developing health policy and best medical practices. IHE disseminates information in many ways. In addition to publications in peer-reviewed journals, IHE produces books and a variety of reports synthesizing information in a particular field.
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Objective: To ascertain knowledge gaps in the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic low back pain (LBP) in the primary care setting to prepare a scoping survey for identifying knowledge gaps in LBP management among Alberta's primary care practitioners, and to identify potential barriers to implementing a multidisciplinary LBP guideline. Note: This is an Alberta Ambassador…
| Angus Thompson, Stephen Newman, Helene Orn, Roger Bland
OBJECTIVE: Life course studies of schizophrenia that have used a 3-phase model (onset,course, and outcome) have had their use restricted owing to differences in definition and methodology. The purpose of this investigation was to describe life course data in mathematical terms and to compare the results with the findings from other life course studies.
Abstract: Within the school system, children with mental illness receive a variety of services that arise because of their conditions, and that require resources that exceed those provided to other students. Some of these services fall into the category of "specialized mental health" services, while others are additional services provided by teachers as part of their routine activities.…
On October 26 & 27, 2010, the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) conducted an invitational workshop on the optimal use of diagnostic imaging (CT and MRI) based on the recommendations from the low back pain guideline.
Diagnostic Imaging Workshop – as part of the Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program
| Carissa Escober-Doran, Philip Jacobs, Carolyn Dewa
Objective: In Canada charitable or nonprofit organizations provide government-contracted mental health and addictions services, and they augment government funding by raising charitable revenues. This study estimated by source the revenues of nonprofit mental health and addictions organizations in Canada.
Advancements in methodological approaches in the evaluation of health technologies are important for ensuring ongoing improvement in the comprehensiveness and quality of assessments. On September 23 and 24th, 2010, The Institute of Health Economics (IHE) conducted an invitational methodology forum addressing the economic evaluation of medicines in Canada. Delegates from academia,…
| Thanh Nguyen, Philip Jacobs, Margaret Wanke, Ann Hense, Reg Sauve
OBJECTIVE: In 2004, the three-module, three-year long patient safety program, Managing Obstetrical Risk Efficiently (MOREOB), was introduced to all clinicians providing obstetrical services in Alberta. We report on an outcomes evaluation of this initiative.
This health technology assessment report is an overview of systematic reviews reporting on the efficacy/effectiveness of psychotherapy and/or pharmacotherapy interventions delivered within Sex Offender Treatment (SOT) programs to reduce the risk of re-offending in convicted adult male sex offenders.
Information Specialist: Liz Dennett
In order to better understand Mental Health & Addictions in the Workplace, the PNWER Health Care Working Group hosted a half day session in conjunction with the annual PNWER summit. This session brought together key policy experts, decision makers, clinicians, and business leaders, and provided the opportunity for dialogue around this issue.
Abstract: The article presents information on the Health Technology Assessment. Guidance for health care practices in Sweden were documented when Medical Collegium was established in 1663 to distinguish quackery from medicine and control the poisonous drugs. In early 1980s, Sweden established the Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Healthcare to assess major diseases…
| Amanda Burls, Lorraine Caron, Ghislaine Cleret de Langavant, Wybo Dondorp, Christa Harstall, Ela Pathak-Sen, Bjørn Hofmann
OBJECTIVES: Values are intrinsic to the use of health technology assessments (HTAs) inhealth policy, but neglecting value assumptions in HTA makes their results appear more robust or normatively neutral than may be the case. Results of a 2003 survey by the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA) revealed the existence of disparate methods…
This background document outlines the methods used to develop the Alberta Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for the Evidence-Informed Primary Care Management of Low Back Pain, which was produced as part of the second phase of the Alberta Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Ambassador Program.
Link to Alberta Ambassador Guideline Adaptation Program
There is a wealth of theoretical and real-world evidence on the impacts of physician payment system design on physician behavior and health system performance. In order to bring some of that knowledge to Alberta the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) conducted, on behalf of Alberta Health and Wellness, a 1 and ½ day Provider Funding: Performance, Accountability, and Incentives…
PURPOSE: A study was undertaken to evaluate the utilization rates of routine preoperativeelectrocardiogram (ECG) and chest x-ray (CXR) by sex, age, and most frequent surgery type, and to estimate the total cost of these screening tests.
| Susan E Brien, Diane Lorenzetti, Steven Lewis, James Kennedy, William A Ghali
BACKGROUND: There is an extensive body of literature on health system quality reporting that has yet to be characterized. Scoping is a novel methodology for systematically assessing the breadth of a body of literature in a particular research area. Our objectives were to showcase the scoping review methodology in the review of health system quality reporting, and to reporton…
The purpose of this report is to update an earlier HTA report published in 2003. This report examines the newly published clinical research evidence on the safety and efficacy/effectiveness of islet transplantation in type 1 diabetic patients who have severe hypoglycemia episodes or hyperglycemia unawareness but are without kidney failure. The main clinical efficacy/effectiveness…
The Institute of Health Economics (IHE), in collaboration with the Alberta Depression Initiative Project, Alberta Health and Wellness, the Alberta Mental Health Board and the Mental Health Commission of Canada organized a Consensus development conference on Depression in Adults: How to Improve Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment in Calgary, Alberta in October 2008. The main objective…
| Ann Scott, Carmen Moga, Christa Harstall, Jacques Magnan
Abstract: Health technology assessments (HTAs) are an as yet unexploited source of comprehensive, systematically generated information that could be used by research funding agencies to formulate researchable questions that are relevant to decision-makers. We describe a process that was developed for distilling evidence gaps identified in HTAs into researchable questions…
The role of rapid fetal fibronectin assay in the management of spontaneous preterm labour The objective of this report is to evaluate the added value of using fetal fibronectin (Rapid fFN for the TLi™ System, referred to here as the rapid fFN assay) to diagnose spontaneous preterm labour (PTL) in symptomatic women, which is the only fFN detection modality currently available…
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Report #36. The objective of this report is to identify the most appropriate investigative protocol, or component of a protocol, for determining the cause(s) of stillbirth and to identify protocols that have been recommended by health authorities and professional associations both within Canada and worldwide. Information…
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Report #35. The objective of this report is to assess the efficacy and safety of using trigger point injection (TPI) to treat patients with chronic non-malignant musculoskeletal pain, based on a systematic review of the current published evidence, and to determine the current state of the procedure, the feasibility of…
| Sue Ludwig, Patricia Leggett Tait, Christa Harstall
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Report #22. This review was requested to determine whether conductive education as a learning approach or therapeutic intervention is safe and efficacious for children with disabilities such as cerebral palsy that impact neuromotor functioning. The review also addresses the profile of the child who would benefit from…
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Report #21. The three objectives of this assessment are to determine the available scientific evidence on: the effective time interval for mammography screening in asymptomatic women aged 50 to 69 years; the effective screening interval in asymptomatic women between the ages of 40 and 49 years; and the mortality rate…
Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) HTA Report #18. This report has been prepared following interest by the Alberta Cord Blood Bank in obtaining advice on the comparative effectiveness and costs of different types of stem cell transplantation. Earlier assessments by the Foundation have considered peripheral blood stem cell transplantation and cord blood transplantation.…