Background:

There has been an increasing demand from policy makers to have rapid access to evidence-based decision support. In this context, the French National Authority for Health (HAS) has developed and tested a method to develop guidelines in an accelerated way.

Objectives:

To assess a flexible accelerated developed guidelines (ADG) method.

Methods:

An ADG core model was defined and flexible key elements to accelerate the process were tested.

Results:

Over 4 years, 37 ADG were produced in different areas in a short amount of time: 6 months [3-9].
Criteria initially established for prioritisation according to the national context were adopted: time requirements, type of data available, updating needs, number of questions to assess, lack of controversy among health professionals regarding the topic, etc.
We focused on 3 major elements to accelerate the process:
• restricted analysis to high-level evidence;
• optional working group; and,
• no peer review but mandatory consultation of stakeholders.
Other minor elements were also considered: experienced experts implication, restricted number of experts and meetings, preferentially electronic tools used, etc.
New deliverables in a short format (3-6 pages) were designed but all information was available on the website for transparency.

Conclusions:

HAS adopted the method for developing rapid and trustworthy guidelines. The assessment is on progress and the results will be presented during the summit, as well as their relation with the need to update guidelines. Innovative and standardised approaches are needed to ensure scientific rigour in the development of accelerated guidelines. This experience will be shared with the members of the GIN Accelerated Guideline Development Working Group (AGD)-WG.