HTAsiaLink 2026
At HTAsiaLink 2026, discussions covered real-world evidence, uncertainty, artificial intelligence, digital health and patient involvement, but the even more impactful was how these issues were being considered against the realities of different health systems across the Asia Pacific region. HTAi members joined those exchanges as contributors and learners, supporting regional dialogue on how HTA can remain practical, inclusive and useful for policy decisions.
Across the Asia Pacific region, HTA is being shaped through different institutions, policy pressures, evidence needs and health system realities. HTAsiaLink 2026 showed why that diversity matters. Held from September 1 to 4, 2026, at the Taipei International Convention Center under the theme, A Step Forward: Powering Policy Impact with HTA in Asia, the 13th HTAsiaLink Conference focused on a practical question: how can HTA turn evidence into better policy while responding to the needs and constraints of different health systems?
The quality of the conference reflected the exceptional work of the Taiwan Center for Drug Evaluation and the conference Organizing Committee. From the scientific program and speaker preparation to the practical arrangements, the conference was carefully planned, warmly hosted and highly engaging. That level of preparation helped create the conditions for serious scientific exchange, strong participation, and generous discussion throughout the week.
HTAi was represented throughout the conference by President Ann Single, Vice President Debjani Mueller, Secretary Anke-Peggy Holtorf, Executive Director George Valiotis and Policy Forum Advisory Committee Chair Wim Goettsch, along with other HTAi members and contributors. They participated in plenaries, workshops and discussions with agencies, researchers, patient representatives and colleagues from across the region.
Plenary discussions on shared HTA challenges
The program was impressive in both scope and substance. Speakers were well prepared; the presentations were consistently strong and the plenary sessions remained full throughout the conference, including the pre-conference days. HTAi was honored to have several members of its leadership team present and contribute to discussions that reflected the regional diversity, scientific depth and practical relevance of HTA across the Asia Pacific region.
HTAi President Ann Single delivered remarks during the opening ceremony and later moderated the first plenary, Facing Uncertainty Together: Shared HTA Challenges and Diverse Approaches. The session explored how different health systems make decisions when evidence is uncertain and adapt HTA approaches to local needs.
The discussion showed that different systems often face the same underlying pressures: assessing innovation, addressing equity, managing limited resources, and deciding when the available evidence is sufficient. Comparing approaches gave participants practical examples while keeping local context at the center of the conversation.
HTAi Executive Director George Valiotis moderated the second plenary, Evidence Evolving: Rethinking What Works in Real-World Complexities. The panel brought together Louise Goh, Miyoung Choi, Yasuhiro Morii, Huang-tz Ou and Li Ying “Grace” Huang, with perspectives from Singapore, Korea and Japan, alongside insights from the host setting in Taipei. The speakers returned to common questions: how to make decisions under uncertainty, how to balance timely patient access with the need for stronger evidence, and how to use real-world evidence responsibly throughout a technology’s lifecycle. George also acknowledged Yi-Hua Pan and Hsiu-Yi Liao of the Taiwan Center for Drug Evaluation for their support in bringing the session together.
HTAi Vice President Debjani Mueller contributed to the third plenary, One Size Does Not Fit All: The Future of HTA in a Dynamic Technology Era. The session was facilitated by Alric Ruethers, President of INAHTA and HTAi Board observer and stood out for its lively facilitation and high level of audience engagement. Debjani’s presentation examined how artificial intelligence and digital health could be incorporated into HTA while preserving sound methods, appropriate governance and human judgement.
A strong theme across the conference was that the major challenges facing HTA are shared, but the conditions for addressing them differ significantly. Countries are working with different data infrastructures, HTA methods, workforce capacity and ability to scale. What made the program especially valuable was the way participants could learn from one another, identify where expertise could be shared and plan more effectively for how HTA capacity can grow across different settings.
The atmosphere was inspired, with plenary questions flowing into coffee breaks and informal conversations, where participants kept testing ideas, sharing expertise and comparing experience over pineapple cake, dumplings, iced tea and hot coffee. In the third plenary, audience discussion highlighted both the opportunities and risks of AI and digital health: many participants did not feel HTA was changing quickly enough to keep pace, while also raising concerns about non-expert use of AI, hallucinations, and the risk of eroding junior-level knowledge and the future pipeline of senior expertise. The discussion pointed to a clear opportunity for more thoughtful, practical and responsible use of AI in HTA.
Patient involvement as a regional priority
Patient involvement was a strong focus at the conference. A pre-conference workshop led by HTAi’s Patient and Citizen Involvement in HTA Interest Group shared findings from the Asia Pacific 360 project, co-led by Ann Single and Fiona Pearce.
Drawing on work across 16 Asia-Pacific jurisdictions, including 168 survey responses from 14 jurisdictions, participants discussed how patients are currently involved in HTA, the barriers that remain and the practical support organizations need to improve their approach. The project will help identify where progress is being made, where gaps remain and what organizations across the region can learn from one another.
Further contributions and connections
HTAi members also contributed to patient involvement, digital health and wider regional exchange throughout the conference and related meetings in Taipei. Secretary Anke-Peggy Holtorf contributed to the exchange on patient involvement, including discussion of practical examples from different HTA systems. Together with Ann Single and Karen Facey, she also shared the open-access second edition of Patient Involvement in Health Technology Assessment with conference participants.
Policy Forum Advisory Committee Chair Wim Goettsch also participated in regional discussions about the evidence, value and access questions created by digital health and AI-enabled medical technologies. His reflection that greater global collaboration could advance HTA science captured an important thread running through the week: emerging technologies are creating shared methodological challenges that no individual agency, discipline or country can address alone.
The week also created opportunities for HTAi colleagues and partner organizations to strengthen existing connections and meet with members of the HTA community from across the region.
Ann Single, George Valiotis, Debjani Mueller, Wim Goettsch and Wendy Babidge connected with representatives from INAHTA, ISPOR, the Haute Autorité de Santé and IQWiG throughout the conference.
Recognizing achievement and progress
The conference recognized achievements across the regional HTA community and marked an important development in the local HTA infrastructure.
Participants also noted legislation establishing an independent National Center for Health Technology Assessment, an important step in strengthening the formal role of HTA in health policy and decision making.
HTAi and HTAsiaLink Strengthen Regional and Global Collaboration
HTAi and HTAsiaLink have developed a strong and increasingly active partnership through shared scientific work, leadership dialogue and regional exchange. In 2020, HTAi signed a three-party Memorandum of Understanding HTAsiaLink and ISPOR, expressing their intention to collaborate on HTA and health economics practice in Asia. HTAi and HTAsiaLink renewed their partnership agreement in November 2023, creating a foundation for further practical collaboration.
Recent initiatives have included a joint webinar on Patient and Citizen Involvement in HTA Across the Asia-Pacific Region in November 2024 and collaboration with ISPOR on the HTA Guideline Development project. That work led to the publication of Good Practices for HTA Guideline Development, providing a practical resource developed through international cooperation.
The partnership was visible throughout HTAsiaLink 2026. Scientific sessions, the Asia Pacific 360 workshop and direct discussions among HTA leaders connected regional experience with the wider international community while keeping the priorities and realities of local health systems at the centre of the conversation.
As HTAi and HTAsiaLink enter the third year of their renewed partnership, discussions are underway to update the MOU and identify the next areas for collaboration. Priorities under consideration include capacity building, patient involvement, responsible AI, peer learning and regional engagement. Together, the two organizations are creating valuable opportunities for members to exchange knowledge, build relationships and strengthen evidence-informed decision-making across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
Partnership in Practice
This partnership is one example of what organizations can achieve by working with HTAi. Organizations can propose a shared policy question, webinar, scientific initiative, regional meeting or another form of collaboration through HTAi’s Registration of Interest process. A fully developed proposal is not required; the process provides a starting point for exploring what could be achieved together.
Learn moreContinuing the work
HTAsiaLink 2026 gave participants a direct view of how different health systems are addressing uncertainty, real-world evidence, artificial intelligence and patient involvement. The discussions also made clear that methods and policies cannot simply be transferred from one setting to another. Useful international learning must account for local institutions, resources and priorities.
HTAi thanks the Taiwan Center for Drug Evaluation, the conference organizers, speakers, participants and partners who contributed to HTAsiaLink 2026 in Taipei. The conversations started there will continue through HTAi’s work with HTAsiaLink and the wider HTA community across the Asia-Pacific region.