The Problem of Health Technology [Paperback]

Health technology is a pivotal locus of change and controversy in health care systems, and The Problem of Health Technologyoffers a comprehensive and novel analysis of the topic. The book illuminates the scientific and policy arguments that are currently deployed in industrialized countries by addressing the perspectives of clinicians, health care managers, scholars, policymakers, patients, and industry. And by establishing a dialogue between two interdisciplinary fields--Health Technology Assessment and Science and Technology Studies--Pascale Lehoux argues for re-centering the debate around social and political questions rather than questions of affordability, thereby developing an alternative framework for thinking about the implications of health technology.

Technology is at the heart of current debates about the future and sustainability of health care systems. This book, a tribute to interdisciplinary thinking, uncovers the many facets of this complex interaction. Drawing from the fields of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and Science and Technology Studies (STS), it presents an original approach to reconciling the innovation discourse with the conundrum of health care systems. A brilliant scholarly work. - Renaldo Battista, Director of Health Administration, University of Montreal, and Canada Research Chair in Health Technology Assessment

 

The Problem of Health Technologyis a lucid and thought-provoking analysis of core issues that lie at the heart of HTA. Pascale Lehoux has provided a timely examination of the limitations of health evaluation techniques and how these can be overcome. Placing HTA in its social context and drawing on work from science and technology studies, she not only shows how it is influenced by normativity, but also how through a recognition of this, it can develop a more transparent and so policy-effective contribution in the future. Her book is therefl³