Health Technology Assessment Roundtables

2025 HTA Roundtable - Asia Pacific

TOKYO, JAPAN | 28 SEPTEMBER 2025

The ISPOR HTA Roundtable - Asia Pacific will take place alongside the ISPOR RWE Summit in Tokyo, Japan on 28 September 2025. The topic of discussion is TBD.

2024 HTA Roundtable - Asia Pacific

VIRTUAL | 5 MARCH 2024

The ISPOR HTA Roundtable - Asia Pacific took place virtually on 5 March 2024 and focused the discussion on the successes and challenges in assessing innovative technologies such as advanced therapy medicinal products (AMTPs) and genetic testing.

2023 HTA Roundtable - Asia Pacific

VIRTUAL | 8 MARCH 2023

On 8 March 2023, ISPOR virtually held the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Roundtable – Asia Pacific. 32 attendees from 13 different Asia Pacific countries or jurisdictions met to discuss "the role of HTA in digital healthcare transformations and technologies."

ISPOR has been convening annual Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Roundtables since 2007 with Roundtables now held in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, and North America. These Roundtables are closed-door, invitation only meetings between HTA bodies, public and private payers, other governmental decision makers, and academics when no HTA body exists in a country. They provide an unbiased platform to advance scientific methods; facilitate information-sharing about the current state of HTA, its development, and its role in optimizing healthcare decisions; and bridge the gap between technology assessors, private and public payers, regulators, and patients to improve health globally.

The HTA Roundtable in Asia Pacific is comprised of HTA bodies (including committees), national insurance organizations, the World Health Organization regional offices in the Asia Pacific region, and academics when no HTA body exists in a country. The organizations in attendance are involved in the access to, pricing of, and reimbursement of healthcare technologies, as well as health system strengthening in Asia Pacific.

Prior to the Roundtable start, a survey was sent to all participants asking about the status of HTA of digital health therapies (DHTs) in their country or jurisdiction. 8 people responded and all respondents do not have a framework to assess digital health technologies; one country/region is in the process of developing a framework and another is in the process of adapting the NICE framework.

The HTA Roundtable – Asia Pacific had 3 presentations, one from the CEO of CureApp from Japan, presenting on the differences of cost-effectiveness for DHTs versus pharmaceuticals, one from South Korea on their experience assessing DHTs, and finally a presentation from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on their Evidence Standards Framework, which includes DHTs in its framework.

Everyone was then divided into 3 breakout groups to discuss the challenges and opportunities of HTA for DHTs. A main theme that emerged in all breakout groups as a challenge was the topic of health equity. For example, smoking cessation apps are very helpful, but the Māori female population have the highest rate of smoking in the world, yet this population will never have access to smoking cessation apps due to their culture. Other issues also include remote islands without internet connectivity which is often required for DHT use. Questions about the implementation costs of DHTs were also raised, as some cost hundreds of thousands of US Dollars to implement; how are these costs included into an HTA? Staff capacity was also acknowledged as a challenge because many staff who are brought in to work on DHTs have a biomedical engineering or information technology background and not a background in economics or HTA. There is a large need for HTA and economic evaluation training in the region.

Opportunities to assessing DHTs were all related to evidence and experience sharing. It was asked for more case studies on how DHTs were assessed and information sharing among the region. In addition to cross-border or cross-regional information sharing, requests were made for more information sharing among regulators, HTA bodies, payers, and digital health technology developers. Sharing of information and evidence will lead to better decision making for patients in the end.

The roundtable was chaired by Dr. Izzuna Mudla Mohamed Ghazali of Malaysia and a webinar focusing on its content took place in June 2023. You can watch the webinar here.

Previous HTA Roundtables - Asia Pacific

• 2022 - Virtual
• 2021 - Virtual
• 2020 - Virtual
• 2019 - Beijing, China
• 2018 - Tokyo, Japan
• 2017 - Taipei, Taiwan
• 2016 - Singapore
• 2015 - Astana, Kazakhstan
• 2014 - Beijing, China
• 2013 - Manila, The Philippines
• 2012 - Taipei, Taiwan
• 2010 - Phuket, Thailand
• 2008 - Seoul, South Korea

2025 HTA Roundtable - Europe

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND, UK | 9 NOVEMBER 2025

The ISPOR HTA Roundtable - Europe will take place on 9 November 2025 during ISPOR Europe 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. The topic of discussion for this roundtable is TBD.

2024 HTA Roundtable - Europe

BARCELONA, SPAIN | 17 NOVEMBER 2024

The ISPOR HTA Roundtable - Europe took place on 17 November 2024 during ISPOR Europe 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. This roundtable focused on Horizon Europe updates as well as discussing how to use HTA to better improve treatment pathways.

2023 HTA Roundtable - Europe

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK | 12 NOVEMBER 2023

The ISPOR HTA Roundtable - Europe was held on 12 November 2023 during ISPOR Europe 2023 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The topic of discussion focused on the better use of evidence generation methods in HTA, capacity building, and stakeholder engagement.

Previous HTA Roundtables - Europe

2025 HTA Roundtable - Latin America 

VIRTUAL | COMING SOON

More information about the 2025 ISPOR HTA Roundtable - Latin America will come soon!

2024 HTA Roundtable - Latin America 

CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA | 15 AUGUST 2024

The ISPOR HTA Roundtable - Latin America took place on 15 August 2024 alongside the ISPOR Colombia Chapter conference in Cartagena, Colombia. The topic of discussion is adaptive HTA and how to assess mid-high cost drugs and technologies that have a large impact on the population/prevalence.

2023 HTA Roundtable - Latin America 

VIRTUAL | 2 AUGUST 2023

On 2 August 2023, the ISPOR 2023 Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Roundtable – Latin America convened over 35 stakeholders from Latin America representing HTA bodies, public and private payers, other governmental decision makers, and academia when no HTA body exists in a country. The discussions focused on deliberative and unique approaches to patient-inclusive HTA practices, as well as critical equity considerations, highlighting the collaborative pursuit of advancements in healthcare decision making across Latin America.

A deliberative HTA process involves evaluating a problem, assessing stakeholder perspectives, and critically analyzing evidence to guide decision-making. It aims to address specific interests by considering diverse opinions from all stakeholders to increase the legitimacy and perception of the process. This also ensures that decisions consider the public's best interests.

HTAs utilize deliberative processes at three pivotal stages:

1. Prioritization of topics selection for evaluation: Prioritization is necessary since resources are often limited.

2. Development and communication of recommendations: All recommendations should be based on sufficient evidence and communicated to all stakeholders.

3. Contextualization: Deliberative processes provide context by incorporating various stakeholder perspectives to add a comprehensive understanding of the evidence tailored to the needs of a particular society.

Stakeholders include patients, citizens, providers, financiers, technology producers, researchers, and decision-makers. It can also include fields such as medicine, law, economics, health administration, and epidemiology.

During the 2021 HTAi Latin American Policy Forum, a survey examined the deliberative processes of HTA in 11 Latin American countries. The results showed that 50% of these countries have formal deliberative processes in the technology selection phase. This is followed by 70% in the assessment phase and 80% in the recommendation and/or decision-making phase. The survey revealed that there is limited institutionalization of HTA processes, insufficient education and knowledge about HTA, unclear mandates for institutions, excessive influence from stakeholders, and inadequate public trust.

Deliberative processes should be adopted to offer a means to making well-informed decisions, incorporating diverse societal perspectives, and enhancing decision-making quality and legitimacy.

During the roundtable, the Brazilian Ministry of Health (MoH) presented an overview of Brazil's National Committee for Health Technology Incorporation (CONITEC). CONITEC advises the MoH in decisions related to the incorporation, exclusion, or change of medicines, products, and procedures in the Unified Health System (SUS). It also advises the MoH on developing clinical guidelines.

The structure of CONITEC includes three main areas: products and procedures, guidelines, and an executive secretariat, along with the Department of Management and Incorporation of Health Technologies. The Brazilian Public Health System actively includes patients and the public in the decision-making process. Patients, their families, and patient association representatives can participate in evaluations and share their experiences with various health technologies.

The process involves several stages, starting with demand and concluding with the final decision. These stages include the initial recommendation, the presentation of topics, patient perspectives, discussions, and public consolidation of recommendations. Citizens can submit their suggestions, comments, and initial recommendations electronically. The process has received a substantial number of contributions. Qualitative analysis is performed on the content of contributions, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of public input. Guest participants, including representatives of public defenders and clinical professionals are also invited to provide input.

Public hearings allow various segments of society to engage in the evaluation process. CONITEC maintains a database of patient specialists and managers to enhance collaboration and stakeholder engagement. Key challenges include expanding engagement in social movements, improving dialogue with health managers, and enhancing HTA literacy in scientific communication strategies.

A patient contributor to Argentina's National Commission for the Evaluation of Health Technologies (CONETEC), then introduced the innovative "health cube" concept. It highlights the finite nature of public health spending, emphasizing the importance of informed decision making in allocating healthcare resources. It was encouraged to systematically integrate novel health technologies to ensure the long-term sustainability of the healthcare system.

In Argentina, presenting a new health technology is open to the public. Patients and the public can contribute to formulating key questions and participate in technical meetings. Patient organizations are summoned to provide their input, which involves collecting online forms and testimonials. However, there have been challenges in gathering patient testimonials effectively. Their experience also highlighted the importance of facilitators from CONETEC in enhancing the patient testimony process.

The patient perspective is primarily incorporated in the initial recommendation meeting, and there is limited involvement in other process phases. Patient organizations are encouraged to participate in HTAs, but it is recognized that some patient groups face challenges due to HTAs targeting specific populations, necessitating well-organized testimonies and evidence.

Obstacles emerge in adding new associations to the patient registry due to legal requirements. The lack of legal status for many regional patient organizations complicates their inclusion in participation efforts. A suggested solution is to map and invite unregistered patient groups to participate. Additionally, The Ministry of Health in Argentina intends to launch a patient training program, which will further enhance involvement.

Despite the challenges, Argentina has positive experiences collaborating with authorities even though CONETEC lacks an independent budget and mandatory processes. It is a promising start, but there is much room for improvement.

Concerns arise about using participation merely as a checkbox to fulfill requirements rather than genuinely promoting equity. Common challenges presented by the participants revolved around limited data availability, unequal representation of patient groups, conflict of interest among stakeholders, HTA literacy, inadequate public trust, and clarity in mandates for institutions.

There is a promising start for Latin American countries, but there is still much work and learning to do to improve patient involvement in a deliberative HTA process. Adopting new initiatives will involve staying open to feedback, adapting strategies, and collaborating with stakeholders to enhance the effectiveness of patient participation.

Prioritizing citizen participation is crucial for advancing more equitable healthcare systems. By addressing these points, the HTA process can become more inclusive, transparent, and responsive to the needs and perspectives of patients and other stakeholders.

According to the World Health Organization, equity is defined as “the absence of unfair, avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically or by other dimensions of inequality (eg, sex, gender, ethnicity, disability, or sexual orientation).”

Strategies for incorporating equity in HTA include:

● Describing health inequalities in target populations before decision-making

● Evaluating the impact of interventions on health inequalities

● Assessing the overall impact of interventions on health inequalities at the population level

● Analyzing trade-offs between efficiency and equity

● Evaluating conflicts or trade-offs within equity concerns

During the roundtable, the ECHTA Checklist was showcased. This Checklist was developed to guide HTA practitioners to maximize equity consideration, organized according to each HTA phase.

Participants discussed the distributional analysis of health gains within budget constraints for new technologies. They examined distributions based on factors such as baseline health, quality impacts, technology use patterns, and effectiveness across socioeconomic groups. Actively conducting cost-effective distributional analysis significantly contributes to HTA, necessitating additional guidelines due to the absence of a single approach for incorporating equity. Despite facing challenges in data collection, there is consensus on the importance of incorporating equity actively into HTAs.

It is important to have data available for assessments, and it is suggested to use a qualitative approach or Likert scale in the absence of data. Participants discussed the limitations of the GRADE methodology and the need for a methodological framework for addressing distribution in target populations.

Gender-related disparities in life expectancy and quality-adjusted life expectancy in Chile highlighted the significance of a gender perspective in public health policy.

The meeting concluded with a call for guidance and collective reflection on multifaceted equity challenges. Ongoing efforts were highlighted, and the meeting underscored the importance of prioritizing equity in access before addressing health disparities within benefit plans. The discussion emphasized the intricate nature of actively navigating equity considerations in HTA decision making and the continuous need to refine conceptual frameworks.

The ISPOR 2023 Health Technology Assessment Roundtable in Latin America focused on advancing patient-inclusive and equitable HTA decision-making. Deliberative processes in HTAs, illustrated by Brazil's CONITEC, highlighted prioritization, evidence-based recommendations, and the importance of societal contextualization. Challenges in patient involvement prompted initiatives for streamlined processes and the need for legal revisions.

While Latin American countries show promise, there is a continued need for improvement, requiring open feedback, adaptability, and collaboration. Discussions on equity considerations in HTA and distributional analysis underscored complexity, concluding with a call for ongoing guidance and framework refinement. ISPOR reaffirms its commitment to supporting these initiatives and facilitating collaborative efforts for a more equitable healthcare landscape in Latin America.

Summary by: Alejandra Murillo, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA

Previous HTA Roundtables - Latin America 

• 2022 - Virtual
• 2021 - Virtual
• 2020 - Virtual
• 2019 - Bogotá, Colombia
• 2018 - Lima, Peru
• 2017 - São Paulo, Brazil
• 2016 - Bogotá, Colombia
• 2015 - Santiago, Chile
• 2014 - Santiago, Chile
• 2013 - Buenos Aires
• 2011 - Mexico City, Mexico
• 2009 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2025 HTA Roundtable - Middle East and Africa

VIRTUAL | 15 APRIL 2025

The 2025 HTA Roundtable - Middle East and Africa will take place on 15 April 2025 and will focus on the use of AI to help implement/institutionalize HTA, country specific updates, and a potential new project.

2024 HTA Roundtable - Middle East and Africa

VIRTUAL | 23 OCTOBER 2024

The 2024 HTA Roundtable - Middle East and Africa took place on 23 September 2024 and focused on the discussion on the development of economic evaluation guidelines in the region, as well as a discussion of the impacts from working with international partners.

2023 HTA Roundtable – Middle East and Africa

VIRTUAL | 17 OCTOBER 2023

On 17 October 2023, the ISPOR 2023 Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Roundtable – Middle East and Africa convened 34 stakeholders from Middle East and African countries representing HTA bodies, public and private payers, other governmental decision makers, and academia when no HTA body exists in a country. The discussions focused on assessing non-pharmacological interventions through HTA and overcoming challenges and maximizing the potential of HTA in Middle East and Africa.

The first topic of discussion focused on assessing non-pharmacological interventions through HTA and included 2 case studies, one from Canada and one from Sweden. The first presentation was from the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) and they focused on presenting how they assessed remote monitoring programs for patients. Some key challenges found from funding the remote monitoring programs include understanding that technology alone was not sufficient to foster positive outcomes, it also had to integrate well into a patient’s daily life, some areas had unstable broadband, or the device could have had poor battery life. It was found that these programs were most effective when the patient was motivated and received highly individualized content. It is important to note that these programs were sees as adjuncts to face-to-face care and not replacements.

The Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services (SBU) then presented their experience assessing psychological treatments for postpartum depression. The Swedish government commissioned this work as a part of a series on women’s health as about 13% of Swedish women suffer postpartum depression. All mothers in Sweden are screened for depression 6-8 weeks after delivery using the Edenborough Post-Natal Depression Scale and an interview. Depending on the severity of the depression, patients are offered patient-centered supportive counseling or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). For the HTA, a project group was put together to evaluate the scientific support for the different types of treatment. A Cochrane review of interventions for postpartum depression was published in 2021, so SBU was unable to include it in their review but provided a commentary on the Cochrane review in their final report. In the end it was found that CBT provided a medium-sized decrease in depression symptoms compared to usual treatment and it was found that interpersonal therapy provided a large decrease in depression symptoms compared to usual treatment.

While there were no presentations from the region on the assessment of non-pharmacologic interventions, hearing case studies from countries outside the region allowed for others to learn and ask questions about best practices and how they may be able to implement these types of interventions into their healthcare systems.

After the first discussion topic, the HTA Roundtable was divided into breakout groups to discuss the main challenges and barriers to implementing HTA and how can they maximize the potential for implementation. A pre-event survey was conducted and 56% of respondents indicated that there is a dedicated HTA unit or autonomous agency in their country. Almost all respondents agreed that HTA is useful and valuable for a wide range of decisions, but most agreed that HTA decisions should focus more on coverage decisions and benefits package design.

The breakout groups supported having an official mandate for HTA in each country and agreed that having examples from other countries that successfully use HTA is beneficial in learning best practices and how to apply to their own country. A need for capacity building and formal training was also mentioned in many groups. Discussions also took place around how to engage policy makers to push for and believe in HTA frameworks. This is a common theme we had heard throughout all the HTA Roundtables in 2023, the need for more communication with decision makers about the importance of HTA and how to use the evidence to make decisions.

Once the group came back together, the importance of engaging with patients in the MEA region was discussed. Patients should be engaged as early as possible and often. They should be on advisory committees and groups because if they are not included, they will become resistant and it will be harder to implement HTA. Patients need to be educated on the HTA process and participate in capacity building. It was also mentioned that it is best to focus on umbrella patient organizations instead of individual ones as they have a stronger foothold.

This was the last roundtable for the chair Mouna Jameleddine of Tunisia and the next chair was announced as Abeer Al-Rabayah of Jordan.

Previous HTA Roundtables - Middle East and Africa

• 2022 - Virtual
• 2021 - Virtual
• 2020 - Virtual
• 2019 - Abu Dhabi, UAE
• 2018 - Dubai, UAE
• 2017 - Glasgow, Scotland, UK

2025 HTA Roundtable - North America

VIRTUAL | June 12, 2025

The ISPOR HTA Roundtable - North America will take place virtually on June 12, 2025. The discussion will focus on the role of AI in HTA and HEOR (including economic models) and what does societal value and whole health mean to payers.

2024 HTA Roundtable - North America

ATLANTA, GA, USA | MAY 5, 2024

The ISPOR HTA Roundtable - North America took place on May 5, 2024 alongside the ISPOR 2024 conference in Atlanta, GA, USA. The discussion focused on the assessment of GLP-1 products for weight loss, high-cost drugs for large prevalence diseases, and the use of AI in HTA.

2023 HTA Roundtable - North America

BOSTON, MA, USA | MAY 7, 2023

On May 7, 2023, ISPOR held the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Roundtable – North America during ISPOR 2023 in Boston, MA, USA. While the HTA Roundtable – North America typically focuses on the US and Canada, several European countries were invited to attend in the conversation. 36 attendees from 11 countries (12 of these attendees were from 9 European countries) convened to discuss the assessment of prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs), incorporating environmental factors into HTA, and HTA in a time of scare resources.

ISPOR has been convening annual Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Roundtables since 2007 with Roundtables now held in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, and North America. These Roundtables are closed-door, invitation only meetings between HTA bodies, public and private payers, other governmental decision makers, and academics when no HTA body exists in a country. They provide an unbiased platform to advance scientific methods; facilitate information-sharing about the current state of HTA, its development, and its role in optimizing healthcare decisions; and bridge the gap between technology assessors, private and public payers, regulators, and patients to improve health globally.

The HTA Roundtable in North America is comprised of HTA bodies, public and private payers (insurers), pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), and other governmental decision makers such as the United States Veteran’s Health Administration and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The organizations in attendance are involved in the access to, pricing of, and reimbursement of healthcare technologies, as well as health system strengthening in the US and Canada.

To start the roundtable discussions and topic 1, England provided an overview of the The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Evidence Standards Framework (ESF) and how it is being used to raise evidence standards for digital health technologies and the challenges that they face. MassHealth (Massachusetts Medicaid) then presented a case study of how they assessed and decided to reimburse for 2 PDTs. Both NICE and MassHealth agreed that evidence standards for assessing PDTs are challenging but that there are learning opportunities from one another to improve healthcare decision making globally.

Some challenges that were raised in assessing PDTs from the attendees of the HTA Roundtable – North America include easy access for patients to free apps (many agreed that by the time they perform an HTA on a PDT, a free app will then be available), patient adherence (clinical trials show a 98% adherence, but in the real-world adherence is closer to 1%), and concerns around safety of PDTs and if there are any unintended consequences.

The second discussion topic focused on how to incorporate environmental sustainability into HTA. England once again started the discussion by presenting an overview of how HTA can support a “greener” National Health Service (NHS). In 2020, NHS England made “net zero commitments” with a goal of carbon emissions being net zero by 2045. The results of a recent NICE Listens session were presented with a focus on the importance of reducing the environmental impact of healthcare, formalizing and publicizing the commitment to environmental sustainability, improving environmental sustainability in healthcare, and ensuring transparency. NHS England has announced the decommissioning of desflurane by early 2024. It is the first medicine to be decommissioned in England due to global warming potential.

A debate then took place during the open discussion about if it is truly the responsibility of HTA and payers to help improve environmental sustainability or if environmental scientists within the government should be relied on more to put legislation in place that will impact manufacturers. It was agreed that there is a disconnect between the two fields and that there may be opportunities for HTA and environmental scientists to work together. A mini Delphi was held at the end of this discussion and it was found that the three most important factors to consider when looking at environmental sustainability are waste, pollution, and packaging.

The final discussion topic of the afternoon discussed how to incorporate resource allocation strategies into HTA. Experiences from both the New Brunswick Department of Health and Veteran’s Health Administration showed similarities in how both governmental organizations handled the stress of COVID-19 from not only a budgetary resource side, but also from a overly stressed human resource side due to new technologies needing to be assessed quickly.

Everyone agreed that to get the best care to patients fast, there must be consideration for the broader healthcare system and the impacts of innovative health technologies beyond cost and clinical effectiveness, as other factors can have unintended consequences for patients and delivery. Healthcare is shifting from looking at single technologies to looking at the systemic impact of technologies. The collective group also discussed how HTA tries to add additional components for consideration, but one thing they do not do well is inform patients and patient groups on why they make decisions. Overall, they should put more emphasis on the education of the public, clinicians, and others in healthcare systems.

Previous HTA Roundtables - North America

• 2022 - Virtual
• 2021 - Virtual
• 2020 - Virtual
• 2019 - New Orleans, LA, USA
• 2018 - Baltimore, MD, USA
• 2017 - Boston, MA, USA
• 2016 - Washington, DC, USA
• 2015 - Philadelphia, PA, USA
• 2014 - Montreal, ON, Canada
• 2013 - New Orleans, LA, USA
• 2012 - Washington, DC, USA
• 2011 - Baltimore, MD, USA
• 2010 - Atlanta, GA, USA
• 2009 - Orlando, FL, USA
• 2008 - Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2007 - Arlington, VA, USA