Assessment of health technology innovation resulting from the COVID-19 crisis

Due to the health crisis caused by COVID-19, many innovative initiatives have emerged to meet the need for materials, devices, equipment and other medical products, as well as personal protective equipment (which we include under the broad umbrella of non-pharmacological health technology).

Therefore, in view of the need for a quick, coordinated response with all the necessary assurances to incorporate innovative technology into the health system due to the health crisis, an inter-institutional cross-cutting working group was established.

This Working Group, promoted by the Catalan Agency for Health Quality and Assessment (AQuAS) and the TIC Salut Social Foundation, is made up of members of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Business and Knowledge, the Catalan Health Service, the Catalan Health Institute, the Catalan Health and Social Care Consortium, the Catalan Union of Hospitals, the Emergency Medical System, the ADN3 group of the Official College of Nursing of Barcelona and the Leitat and Eurecat technology centres. Though it also has strategic links to other relevant entities in the health and innovation system (such as the Official College of Physicians of Barcelona, the College of Engineers of Barcelona or the Centre for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technologies among others).

The main focus of this Working Group is on those innovative uses of approved products and authorized products that have required some R&D in order to be able to respond to the COVID-19 crisis as well as any de novo innovation (new products and prototype development).

The purpose of this Working Group is to increase efficiency in the management of public and private initiatives for development and innovation in health technology by facilitating the implementation of activities such as:

• Identifying and coordinating the collection of proposals (using this form)
• Assessing the proposals
• Providing support throughout the necessary regulatory process
• Making recommendations for clinical indications
• Analysing the production needs
• Analysing the distribution of the devices and the results of their application
• Disseminating initiatives and their assessment for decision-making in the health system
• Understanding the new needs of the system, fruit of the prior experience with the COVID-19 crisis

For more information you can consult the website: Assessment of health technology innovation resulting from the COVID-19 crisis