The Problem of Health Technology

by Pascale Lehoux

Overview

Health technology is a pivotal locus of change and controversy in health care systems, and The Problem of Health Technology offers 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317793571
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/03/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Pascale Lehoux is Associate Professor in the Department of Health Administration at the University of Montreal. She is also Adjunct Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of Toronto, and she holds a Canada Research Chair on Innovations in Health.

Table of Contents

1: Health Technology Assessment: Promises and Pitfalls; 2: What Do Technologies Do?; 3: What Do Humans Want and for Whom?; 4: Reconciling Competing Objectives; 5: An Alternative Framework; 6: Conclusion: Toward Better Innovations

Editorial Reviews

"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 Technology is 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 therefore not just of academic interest, but of great importance to HTA practitioners and policymakers" -Andrew Webster, author of Health, technology and Society.

From the Publisher