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Public Comment Guide (41.9 KB)
Meeting Guide (42.3 KB)
Committee Bylaws (48.8 KB)
The Washington State Health Technology Clinical Committee (HTCC or Committee) was established by law in 2006 to include eleven members appointed by the Administrator, in consultation with participating state agencies. See RCW 70.14.090. In addition to the law and administrative rules, these bylaws contain the organization of the HTCC and govern the orderly resolution of its purposes. Bylaws and amendments must be approved by the Administrator and confirmed by the Chair.
A key component of the HTA program is the use of an independent committee of eleven practicing health care professionals to use the technology assessment reports on the strength of evidence to make coverage decisions. Authorizing legislation requires the Health Care Authority (HCA) Administrator to appoint eleven committee members that include six practicing physicians and five other practicing licensed health professionals who use health technology in their scope of practice. At least two members of the committee must have professional experience treating women, children, elderly persons, and people with diverse ethnic and racial background. See RCW 70.14.090.
Health Technology Clinical Committee Selection
HCA seeks a committee with a diversity of knowledgeable individuals willing to actively participate and make decisions based on the evidence and the best interest of the public. Key qualities for the committee include:
- Active practitioners
- Diverse membership in geographic location, gender, and ethnic and racial background
- Knowledge of and experience with evidence-based medicine, including experience, training, or education focused on fields relevant to evidence based medicine
Additionally, HCA required a range of practitioner types and specialties that use health technologies (medical and surgical devices and procedures, medical equipment, and diagnostic tests). The target categories below include some examples; depending on the services performed, practitioners can fit in more than one category:
- Diagnostic Services – such as radiology, pathology, internal medicine, and/or emergency medicine
- Primary Care Services – such as family practice, internal medicine, nurse practitioner, pediatrics, and/or obstetrics/gynecology
- Surgical Services – such as orthopedics, neurosurgery, cardiology, anesthesiology, obstetrics/gynecology, podiatry, and/or dentistry
- Rehabilitative Services – such as rehabilitation medicine, chiropractic, prosthetics and/or orthotics, physical, occupational or rehabilitative therapy
- Additional Health Services – such as mental health, dental, chiropractic, complementary and alternative medicine (e.g., acupuncture, naturopathy), or massage therapy
Health Technology Clinical Committee Process
HCA formed a workgroup of agency medical directors to evaluate and rank the candidates. The following evaluation criteria were considered:
- Length and type of clinical experience
- Clinical experience relevance to health technology
- Experience on committees (internal organizational or external) and/or applying clinical knowledge to policy or other decision making process
- Knowledge of and experience with evidence-based medicine, including experience, training, or education focused on fields relevant to evidence based medicine: clinical epidemiology; health economics; health services research; public health; biostatistics; medical quality management; public health system planning and evaluation; cost-effectiveness analysis; decision sciences; access to health care; clinical effectiveness; health informatics; biometrics; or outcomes research
- Willingness to actively participate, make decisions in the best interest of the public, and apply results of evidence based reviews
- Additional information such as member diversity in geographic location, gender, or ethnic or racial background geographic diversity; experience in treating women, children, elderly persons, and people with diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds, and potential conflicts of interest
The workgroup arrived at an initial consensus recommendation, with some additional information needed related to licensure, active practice eligibility requirements, and sufficient expertise in certain specialties. Additional information was obtained, and a final evaluation based on the criteria was conducted. Recommendations for the committee were forwarded to the HCA Administrator, who selected for the recommended list.
