When technologies appear promising but there is inadequate evidence of effectiveness, clinical utility, safety, or cost effectiveness, the Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee (OHTAC) may ask the Medical Advisory Secretariat (MAS) to seek clinical partners to initiate field evaluation research. Field evaluations are designed to obtain evidence while meeting the care needs of informed, consenting patients, who may benefit. They allow a new technology to be conditionally funded with definitive funding decisions being made after the evidence has been reported.

View a selection of reports from our field evaluation partners.

Started in 2005, Ontario’s Field Evaluation Program has quickly grown to become one of the largest in the world, attracting international attention.

Download Dr. Levin’s presentation on Ontario’s field evaluations at the July 8, 2008 Health Technology Assessment International Conference in Montreal.

The Medical Advisory Secretariat funds and oversees many health technology-related field evaluations being conducted in partnership with clinical and academic research institutions across the province. In addition to the base funding to conduct an evaluation of the technology, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, may provide conditional funding for a technology being evaluated.

Field evaluation partners :

• Collect information to reduce uncertainty about the effectiveness of the technology in the Ontario setting
• Collect information on resource utilization, cost and important patient outcomes
• Develop an economic model for the technology and underlying disease
• Provide estimates of the overall effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the technology

Each field evaluation is subject to Research Ethics Board approvals and requires patient-informed consent. Field evaluation protocols are subject to external peer review. Information collected is more policy relevant for the Ontario population and practice context, involves key stakeholders in the adoption of the technology and provides access to the technology during the evaluation process. The OHTAC may also request additional field evaluations of the safety or human factors-related issues relevant to a technology and structural factors for its introduction.

Links are provided under each issue listed in the Ontario Health Technology Assessment Series to all related publications, including Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee recommendations and field evaluations.

Find out more about current indications for conditionally funded field evaluations.

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