Health technology: Challenge to public health

Health technology includes drugs, procedures, techniques, and equipment used by health professionals to provide health care, and the organizational and supporting systems within which the care is delivered. Such new technology may comprehend new drugs, new medical devices and appliances, new medical activities and surgical procedures, health promotion and disease prevention activities, and organizational and supporting systems. To achieve maximal use of available resources and constant selection among alternatives offered, health technology assessment is indispensable as a scientific effort to determine the extent to which and under what conditions a specific technology is efficacious, effective, safe, and cost-effective: Since today the greatest benefit to patients must be achieved at the lowest cost, one of the ways to achieve this goal is to promote health technology assessment and thus build the healthcare infrastructure on more scientific and objective foundations.