Visit of the Representatives of Member Institutions of RedETSA to the Health Technology Assessment Institute (IETS) in Bogota, Colombia

IETS
The Institute of Technological Evaluation in Health is the only institution in Spanish-speaking America of mixed participation and private character whose mission is to promote research in health technology assessment and contribute to the development of better health care practices.
REDETSA EXCHANGE
On the 16th, 17th and 18th of August 2016, the technical exchange of representatives of RedETSA member institutions in the IETS was successfully completed. The visit took place at the IETS headquarters in Bogota, Colombia. Fifteen professionals from 8 countries of the Region participated in the visit, which was divided into keynote sessions and workshops related to specific topics.
Professional exchange helped strengthen the Network's capabilities, as well as promoting the exchange of information, training and successful experiences in evaluations of technologies and derivatives. Specifically, the objectives were to learn about IETS's experience in the process of evaluating health technologies and their role in decision-making, to learn about IETS's experience in developing clinical practice guidelines and to carry out other activities that allow the exchange Of knowledge with the other representatives of the attending institutions
The professionals who participated in the meeting are detailed in the following table:

COMMENTS
The participating professionals were very satisfied with the development of the activity; It was highly successful and beneficial both to them and to the institutions of which they are members, as shown by the following comments:
“The exchange […] provided a rich exchange of experiences between the participating countries, allowing the sharing of successful experiences and the difficulties faced in the process of validation of health technologies and the development of Clinical Practice Guidelines, promoting the strengthening of ties and strengthening work capacity in networks in the Americas.”
– Jorgeny Souza Emerick Ebeidalla
“[…]this technical exchange visit was very beneficial, where the entire IETS team was willing to share their vast knowledge and experience with us and provided us with very detailed and precise information about their work. Without a doubt, this type of activity represents a great contribution to progress, especially for emerging countries in the field of ETS such as Costa Rica.”
– Ana Eduviges Sancho
“Knowing about Colombia’s successful experience with Health Technology Assessments (HTA), Evidence-Based Medicine, and the development of Clinical Practice Guidelines has been of great importance to us as El Salvador, because we are in the process of consolidating the Health Reform and it is of great relevance to carry out technology assessments that allow us to respond to the demands of new technologies, through systematic and rapid searches of literature and scientific evidence, which allow us to reduce unjustified variability in clinical practice, as well as improve decision-making in Health, to reach a level where we can define needs with Evidence-Based Medicine.”
– Dr. Igor Castro Ramirios
“I found the professional exchange experience to be excellent. The IETS showed us how the Institute was formed and how, through its work, it has become a very relevant actor for both society and the Colombian health authorities. It was also very useful to learn about the difficulties they had when building their products and when carrying out their health technology assessment processes. In this way, it is possible to prevent or at least be prepared for when, in our countries, we think about generating something similar. In addition, the hosts were very welcoming and clarified all our doubts.”
– Victoria Hurtado
AGENDA