CCATES - Sus Collaborating Centre Technology Assessment and Health Excellence

CCATES is fundamentally interdisciplinary, with researchers and collaborators from the fields of Pharmacy, Medicine, Economics, Statistics, Law and Informatics who develop studies and actions with high technical and scientific standards in the areas of epidemiology, pharmacovigilance and health economics. Among many activities, the Collaborating Centre makes the analysis of administrative and judicial requests for drugs, procedures and medical devices, and produces fast opinions on relevant health issues, for example on public policies and technologies available to the population. The Collaborating Center operates in Translational Medicine which consists of the transfer and incorporation of basic biomedical knowledge in health technology, such as drugs, medical devices and public policies. Together, CCATES makes the Monitoring Technological Horizon, which consists in the prospecting of emerging technologies to enable strategic planning in Health. To evaluate the results of the technologies incorporated health or perspective of incorporation by the Unified Health System (SUS), the Center conducts analyzes of Clinical Effectiveness through direct interaction with patients/users and evaluation of indirect sources of information, as medical records and administrative databases. To promote and disseminate scientific evidence independently to prescribers, the CCATES operates in Academic Detailing, which is the medical visitation to contribute to the practice of evidence-based medicine. All activities developed by CCATES are aimed at ensuring universal and equal access of population to health actions and services by facilitating discussion and decision making by healthcare professionals and managers. Ultimately, the work of the Center aims to improve the effectiveness of treatments for the individual and society.