The proposals for detection of obsolete technologies were based on a series of ideas put forward by the working group. Five data sources were thus proposed for detecting potentially obsolete health technologies. To complete this information, Osteba and avalia-t contacted experts from INAHTA (International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment), EuroScan (International Information Network on New and Emerging Health Technologies) and EUnetHTA (European Network for Health Technology Assessment) for advice on how and in which sources obsolete technologies could be detected.
As in the case of detection of emerging health technologies, methods for detecting these technologies can be divided into active and proactive searching. Whereas in active searching, it is the person interested in appraising these technologies that locate a potentially obsolete technology, in proactive searching the potentially obsolete technology is reported to the technical staff of agencies or institutions interested in a periodic and structured schedule.