Health Policy Guidance Statements Policy

Identification of Need

The need for a Health Policy Guidance Statement to be developed by ISHLT, either individually or jointly with a related organization(s), may be brought to the Board by one of the following:

• A member of the Board of Directors
• The CEO
• The Chair of the Publications Oversight Committee
• The Chair of an Interdisciplinary Network Steering Committee
• The Chair of the Standards and Guidelines Committee
• The Chair of the Leadership Advisory Forum
• A member of the leadership of a related organization
• An elected representative of one of the Professional Communities

The identification of need for a Health Policy Guidance Statement must include the following information:

• The issue which the statement will address
• The nature of the guidance requested (ethics, health policy, etc.)
• A summary of the need for the statement
• The audience for the statement (regulatory bodies, health care providers, patients, etc.)
• The urgency of the issue
• The relevance of the issue from a national or international perspective (national relevance is the minimum expected; international relevance is strongly preferred)
• The relevance of the issue to each of the Society’s Professional Communities and Interdisciplinary Networks
• Existing statements by other organizations on the same or a closely related topic
• Statements under development by other organizations on the same or a closely related topic
• Organizations with whom collaboration on a statement would be valuable

The Publications Oversight Committee (POC) will review and assess the identification of need document and, if it is determined that the need is warranted, will make a recommendation to the ISHLT Board (or Executive Committee) for its development. Such recommendation must include the following:

• Summary of issue and need for statement
• Recommended scope of statement
• Recommended collaborating organizations, if any
• Level of urgency and recommended date for completion of the document
• Recommended Project Leads (input may be sought from relevant Interdisciplinary Network Steering Committees)
• Recommended publication/dissemination vehicles

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Writing and Approval

Once approved by the Board (such approval must include details regarding publication/dissemination expectations and diversity expectations among the content developers), the selection of Writing Committee members, the collection of COI disclosures, and the development and approval of the content shall proceed in accordance with the processes in place for S&G document development. The need for disciplinary and geographic diversity among the content developers will be dependent upon the issue at hand, the relevant audience, and the scope of the statement.

In instances where time is of the essence, the responsibilities of the IDN Steering Committees may be handled by the Standards and Guidelines (S&G) Committee, the responsibilities of the S&G Committee may be handled by the Publications Oversight Committee (POC), and the Peer Review process may be replaced by a more robust Expert Review process. POC approval and Board approval of the final document are required.

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Publication

Publication options for Health Policy Guidance Statements include publication in the JHLT, on the ISHLT website, and publication/presentation in other forums as appropriate. Details and decisions regarding publication/presentation are to be agreed upon by the Publications Oversight Committee (POC), Board of Directors, and JHLT Editor at the time of approval of the final statement.

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Assessment of Ongoing Relevance

Staff will engage the Publications Oversight Committee (POC) in a review of the relevance of the Society’s existing Health Policy Guidance Statements no less than every five (5) years. Health Policy Guidance Statements identified as in need up updating will be presented to the Board via the above Identification of Need process. Health Policy Statements identified by the POC and Board as no longer relevant or valid will be removed from the ISHLT website.

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