Why and How to Contribute
Why contribute?
To support the formulation of fair and reasonable recommendations, the Institut national d'excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS) analyzes data from three main sources of information: a) scientific studies, b) the experience of healthcare professionals, and c) the experience of people living with a disease or a condition, users, and caregivers, in order to improve care and services for the population.
The INESSS targets published data, those from health and social services such as clinical-administrative data in addition to knowledge and experience of those concerned mainly health professionals and administrators as well as patients, users and caregivers.
All this information helps us to judge the value of a healthcare intervention, whether it's a drug, a blood system product, or a medical device used to administer a drug. The use of the subject of evaluation is evaluated along five dimensions:
Who Can Contribute?
Anyone suffering from a disease or health condition, family caregivers, patient associations, or groups are invited to contribute to the evaluation work.
How can I contribute?
There are two ways of contributing to the evaluations:
- You can complete a drug consultation questionnaire by consulting the Innovative Medicines Work Plan.
- You can take part in a consultation (interview or focus group) by responding to a solicitation published on INESSS social media or in the INESSS Express electronic newsletter.
Drugs involved
The Direction de l'évaluation des médicaments et des technologies à des fins de remboursement (DER) conducts evaluations leading to recommendations on whether a product should be maintained or added to the List of Drugs Covered by the Public Plan or to the List of Québec Blood System Products. These recommendations are forwarded to the Ministre de la Santé et des Services sociaux and published.
You can find the drugs evaluated by INESSS on the Drugs – Evaluation for listing page, under the "Innovative Work Plan" tab.
Why are some drugs associated with a comment period and others not?
A comment period is open for certain types of projects, i.e., new drugs, drugs already reimbursed but covering new uses, or re-evaluated drugs.
No comment period is proposed for other types of projects, such as new drug forms, strengths, or formats, nutritional formulas, and dressings.
The absence of a comments deadline may also indicate that the consultation period is over.
If you have any questions about the consultation process for drugs evaluated for listing purposes, please contact our team at the following e-mail address: plan.commentaires.inscription@inesss.qc.ca.