HTA agency, Poland

Commissioning

Commissioning is sending or officially charging an individual or group to undertake certain functions or to complete certain tasks. Usually one commissions tasks that can’t be completed within one’s own sources to people more competent for the task.

Commissioning may refer to:

- report (Agency for HTA commissions academic entity to produce HTA, Minister of Health commissions producing HTA on given subject to AHTAPol);
- new research (to fill gaps in knowledge).

Planning

Planning is one of the functions/activities usually carried out by top-level management /project leaders. It focuses on the preparation of plans and arrangements in order to design and control development/progress of:

- the organizational structure,
- the work division/tasks (for example: planning the work on a HTA report in a team of employees of Agency of Health Technology Assessment),
- the project,
- the budget etc.
It is process of defining goals for future organizational performance, and deciding on tasks and resources necessary to attain these goals. It answers the questions:
- what goals are to be achieved within given time frame,
- why this goals need to be achieved,
- how could/should they be achieved,
- what actions are needed to be undertaken in order to achieve them, and
- how to verify whether these goals have been achieved or not (and if not what other/alternative actions should be undertaken to achieve these goals).

Development of the strategic plan greatly helps to clarify the organization's/project plans. When generating the plan it is essential to clearly define the purpose of the organization / project and to establish realistic goals and objectives consistent with that mission in a defined time frame within the organization’s capacity for implementation.

Purchasing

Purchasing is the act of buying goods (licensed medical devices, medical services) by entering into contractual agreements with suppliers by National Health Fund or health care practitioners/providers.

The act of buying goods (devices) is carried out strictly in compliance with purchasing policy.
According to this policy purchasing must be based on gathering information on needs from staff and patients, assessing the urgency of these needs, weighing the options and on these bases try to make informed decisions. Once placed purchasing requests for items (addressed supply requirements) are acknowledged by management and a vendor/supplier is chosen by tender. Usually the vendor who presents the most cost-effective contract pricing for the items/service/medical devices is chosen for fulfilling the purchase order.