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Table 2 Examples of use of the term ‘health technologies’

From: Sustainability in Health care by Allocating Resources Effectively (SHARE) 9: conceptualising disinvestment in the local healthcare setting

Scope

Definition or use

Definition encompasses all elements across the spectrum of healthcare delivery and management

“Drugs, diagnostic tests, including indicators and reagents, devices, equipment and supplies, medical and surgical procedures, support systems, and organizational and managerial systems used across the spectrum of health care” [85]

Definition based on a selection of elements from the extensive list above

“Drugs, devices, procedures and screening” [87], “drugs, devices and procedures” [12, 90], “devices, diagnostics and digital technologies” [89], “Pharmaceuticals, devices, diagnostic tests and interventional procedures” [88], “drugs, diagnostic and procedural interventions” [42]

No definition, but wording suggests that health technologies are separate from other elements

“Health care practices, procedures, technologies and pharmaceuticals” [49, 91, 93], “health technology, drug or intervention” [51], “Technologies, services and interventions” [53]

No definition, but wording suggests that health technologies are products and devices

“Purchasing health technologies” [94,95,96], “sunk costs and capital infrastructure” [50], “manufacturers” [23, 38, 94, 96], “technology lifecycle” [23, 38, 50], “after a technology has been licensed” [23, 96]