Health technology assessment in interventional electrophysiology and device therapy: a position paper of the European Heart Rhythm Association

Healthcare systems face an increasing demand for costly medical interventions. The primary concern of a physician is centred around the best possible treatment for his or her patients, according to patients’ requests and expectations. The healthcare system, in contrast, is ideally concerned with the assignment of resources in the best interest of society.1 Clinicians, public health physicians, economists, commissioners, managers, and politicians need to find ways to balance between what is best for the individual patient and what society can realistically afford. Appraisals of the clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, cost-impact, and commissioning of emerging therapies can inform such judgements and decisions.