World Congress on
Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering

21-26 August 1994   Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL

Under the auspices of the
International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM)
International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE)
International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP)

Special program on

HEALTH CARE TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT

Sponsored by the
International Society of Technology Assessment in Health Care (ISTAHC)
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
IFMBE Division for Health Care Technology Assessment (DHCTA)


Deadline for abstracts: 20 December 1993


Dear colleague:

We are pleased to invite you to the forthcoming World Congress
on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering to be held 21-26
August 1994 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This triennial event is one
of the largest international conferences devoted to health care
technology, with more than 2,000 participants expected in 1994.
The Congress will include a full range of scientific and social
activities, with a large technical exhibition of new developments in
health devices, equipment, and instrumentation.

In addition to its traditional range of medical physics and
biomedical engineering tracks, the Congress will include a special
full program devoted to health care technology assessment
(HCTA), including a five-part short course, roundtables, a state-of-
the-art presentation, and scientific sessions.

Increasing emphasis on HCTA

This will be the second Congress with a program devoted to
HCTA, reflecting the growing international interest in assessing the
implications of technological advancements for health care
delivery and policy making.

HCTA is the systematic evaluation of the characteristics and
consequences/impacts of health care technology. It may address
intended and direct consequences of technologies as well as their
unintended and indirect consequences. The main purpose of
HCTA is to support policy making with better understanding of the
development, diffusion, and appropriate use of technologies.

HCTA is conducted by interdisciplinary groups using explicit
analytical frameworks drawing from a variety of methods. It may
emphasize one or more properties, impacts, or other attributes of
health care technologies, including:

O technical properties
O clinical safety and efficacy/effectiveness
O economic attributes or impacts
O appropriate circumstances/indications for use
O social, legal, ethics, and political impacts.

Medical physicists and biomedical engineers who contribute to
scientific advances and technological ingenuity for health devices,
equipment, and instrumentation must take greater roles in
interdisciplinary evaluations that affect HCTA and policy making.
Not only are biomedical engineers and medical physicists needed
to contribute technical insights to HCTA, they can acquire
considerable useful knowledge about how others in health care
make technological decisions.

The 1994 World Congress provides a superb opportunity to
participate in a comprehensive HCTA program and interact with
HCTA experts from around the world.

We look forward to seeing you in Rio!

Clifford Goodman and Ronney B. Panerai
HCTA Program Cochairs

HCTA Preliminary Program

1. HCTA Short Course-- 5 one-hour sessions:

I: Choosing the right methods
II: Health outcomes measurement in HCTA
III: Cost-effectiveness analysis and other economic assessments
IV: Assessing social, ethical, and legal impacts
V: Technology assessment, replacement, planning, procurement*

2. Roundtables: Each will involve 4 to 6  experts and
audience discussion. Preliminary topics:

O HCTA in the health products industry
O HCTA and clinical engineering*
O HCTA and planning local health systems
O Implementing national HCTA centers
O HCTA clinic: practical problem-solving

*Joint session with Clinical Engineering track



3. State-of-the-art lecture: Ten trends in technology assessment
affecting the development and diffusion of advanced health care
technologies.

4. Scientific. sessions: The scientific sessions will include invited
lectures and submitted papers. The following are the preliminary
session topics; papers on other topics related to HCTA are also
welcomed. The final set of scientific sessions will depend upon
the quality and distribution of submitted papers.

O Artificial organs
O Cardiovascular technologies
O Perinatal technologies
O Radiotherapy
O Rehabilitation engineering
O Minimally invasive technology
O Diagnostic technologies
O Clinical/hospital engineering systems
O Medical informatics
O Artificial intelligence
O Anticipating future technologies
O HCTA in developing countries
O Education in HCTA
O National science policy and health care technology

5. Other activities:

O Young Investigator's Award (for participants < 32 years old)

O Latin American Student Competition (for graduate and
undergraduate students)

O Pre-conference courses:
- medical image processing
- radiation protection and quality assurance in medical physics

Secretariat: CONGREX do Brasil; Rua do Ouvidor, 60/414
Rio de Janeiro--RJ 20040-030; BRAZIL
Tel: +5521 224-6080; Fax: +55 21 231-1492

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1994 WORLD CONGRESS ON
MEDICAL PHYSICS AND BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING