It is important to describe whether the technology is an add-on or a replacement for the existing management options, and what the other evidence-based alternatives are. Are there differences in the treatment of diseases at their different stages? Identification of practice variations may imply differences in the quality of health care. Deviation from evidence-based guidelines may suggest over/under use of the technology.

Sources: Clinical guidelines and published utilisation reviews; in the absence of these clinical experts survey. See Appendix 1. Method: Systematic review of clinical guidelines. Quality appraisal of guidelines can be done using e.g. AGREE II Instrument. For practice mapping, a pragmatic review or listing of available information is sufficient. Flowcharts are illustrative in reporting management pathways.