Health technology assessment in cancer: A personal view from public health

Health technology assessment (HTA) poses three main questions: does it work? at what cost? is it worth it? Since funds for health care are always finite, it will not be possible to provide every form of care that may do some good for some people. Hard choices have to be made. HTA is a form of policy analysis that helps decide what to fund and what not to fund. Tensions arise mainly when a new intervention is clinically effective but not cost-effective, usually because the benefit is small and the cost high.