Methods for Early Assessment of the Societal Value of Health Technologies: A Scoping Review and Proposal for Classification

Early assessments of health technologies help to better align and integrate their development and assessment. Such assessments can take many forms and serve different purposes, hampering users in their selection of the most appropriate method for a specific goal. The aim of this scoping review was to structure the large set of methods according to their specific goal. A scoping review was conducted using PubMed and reference lists of retrieved articles, to identify review studies with a methodological focus. From the included reviews, all individual methods were listed. Based on additional literature and examples, we extracted the specific goal of each method. All goals were clustered to derive a set of subclasses and methods were grouped into these subclasses. Of the 404 screened, 5 reviews were included, and 1 was added when searching reference lists. The reviews described 56 methods, of which 43 (77%) were included and classified as methods to (1) explore the nature and magnitude of the problem, (2) estimate the nature and magnitude of the expected (societal) value, (3) identify conditions for the potential value to materialize, and (4) help develop and design the type of research that is needed. The wide range of methods for exploring the societal value of health technologies at an early stage of development can be subdivided into a limited number of classes, distinguishing methods according to their specific objective. This facilitates selection of appropriate methods, depending on the specific needs and aims. •Already in the earliest stages of technology development, health technology assessment can inform the use, development, and research of the technology. Nevertheless, such early assessment can take many forms and serve many purposes, hampering the selection of the most appropriate method for a specific goal. For early technology assessment to be fully appreciated, it is important to use the methods that fit the goals that are most relevant.•With this scoping review, we examined whether the large set of methods that have been proposed for exploring the societal value of healthcare technologies at an early stage of development could be divided into different subclasses, according to their specific goal. We identified 4 subclasses of methods relating to the specific goals of the assessment. We describe differences and commonalities among methods within these classes.•This article adds structure and practical guidance that helps facilitate the appli