Deck 7: The Policy Analysis Process: Health Technology Assessment

Question 1

Which of the following is one reason why health technology assessment is likely to become increasingly important?

A) Increased investment in medical research necessitates the smarter use of existing resources.
B) Government mandates will require input from multiple sources for efficient implementation.
C) Technology needs to become simpler in order to overcome providers' resistance to its use.
D) Market competition will increase due to globalization of health delivery.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Why is it especially crucial that technological forecasting in the health care industry be reliable?

A) The short lead times for testing and approving new technology
B) The impact of new technology on health care delivery
C) The rapid speed at which technology is typically adopted
D) All of the above

Answer 2

B

Question 3

When the State of Washington defined the term health technology, it did not include _____ in that definition.

A) pharmaceuticals
B) medical equipment
C) diagnostic tests
D) medical devices

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which statement BEST describes the forecasting of health care technologies?

A) Forecasts about the likely implementation of health care technology are almost always on target.
B) Because technological forecasting is an imprecise science, it is of little importance to the health care industry.
C) Our ability to correctly predict the success or failure of health care technology is fairly limited.
D) Forecasting health care technology is impossible because of our limited knowledge of the future.

Question 5

Technological forecasts can differ based on the forecaster's:

A) personality.
B) self-interest.
C) personal vision.
D) all of the above.

Question 6

Which organization is responsible for making long-range forecasts about the costs of Medicare and Medicaid?

A) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
B) Food and Drug Administration
C) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
D) Health and Human Services Administration

Question 7

Data indicates that the effectiveness of _____ appears to be improving over time.

A) antibiotics
B) surgical procedures
C) alternative health procedures
D) homeopathy

Question 8

Which of the following of Gilfillan's systematic levels of future causality tends to get the MOST attention?

A) Economic effects possible with a set of technical accomplishments
B) Indirect effects of the predicted technology
C) Social effects predicted to flow from a set of technical accomplishments
D) Technical accomplishments

Question 9

Typically, which of the following processes would occur first?

A) Product dissemination
B) Product approval from regulators
C) Adoption of product by providers
D) Product pricing

Question 10

What is meant by compliance?

A) Educating users about a new technology
B) Administering safety tests on new technology
C) Predicting the speed with which technological change will occur
D) Using a product or process as recommended

Question 11

Which of the following forecasting methods is MOST likely to use a nominal group or Delphi technique to collect information?

A) Surveying and sampling
B) Gathering expert opinion
C) Time-series analysis
D) Simulation and system modeling

Question 12

Which approach to modeling involves not manipulating mathematical data to generate future projections?

A) Feedback models
B) Scenarios
C) Probabilistic models
D) Spreadsheet models

Question 13

Markov models involve:

A) system dynamics models.
B) time-dependent transition states.
C) logit regression models.
D) Monte Carlo simulations.

Question 14

The booming industry Representative Houghton was referring to was:

A) pharmacy benefits management.
B) evidence-based protocols.
C) pharmacoeconomics.
D) carve outs for behavioral health.

Question 15

Forecasting health care workforce requirements has:

A) consistently led to overestimates.
B) consistently led to underestimates.
C) has been off the mark due to immigration.
D) never been undertaken.

Question 16

Which of the following statements BEST describes organizations devoted to health care technology assessment in the United States?

A) Technology assessment is conducted by a patchwork of federal and state agencies, along with private industry.
B) Private-sector assessment is not considered especially reliable because of the potential for conflict of interest.
C) The federal government is almost entirely responsible for all assessment of health care technology.
D) Over the past decade, individual states have been rapidly taking control of assessment from the federal government.

Question 17

It has been relatively easy to predict which health care technologies will be successes or failures.

Question 18

One reason why technological forecasting can be difficult is that we tend to move forward despite our limited knowledge about the future.

Question 19

Technological forecasts can differ based on the forecaster's particular biases.

Question 20

Some health cost trends, such as inflation, are fairly predictable.

Question 21

Moore's Law is a good example of the use of time-series analysis.

Question 22

Once a product or process has been approved by regulators, its adoption is almost always very swift.

Question 23

Getting expert opinion seldom involves survey research.

Question 24

Health technology assessment rarely needs to involve multiple disciplines.

Question 25

More complex modeling techniques for forecasting are used when many factors are interacting.

Question 26

Technology is unlikely to be widely adopted unless (a) it significantly improves cost or outcome and/or (b) it is less costly.