The Australian Government makes deliberate, evidence‑based decisions to ensure new medicines (and other health technologies) deliver real health benefits for patients at a price that patients and taxpayers can afford.
These decisions are informed by Health Technology Assessments (HTA), which underpins key programs such as the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
The HTA Policy and Methods Review highlighted that “Australia’s HTA and medicines funding systems are world class”.
This review also recommended improvements to our HTA systems and processes so they can keep providing Australians access to medicines while meeting the needs of Australians into the future.
We are implementing HTA improvements in carefully planned stages, so the system can keep operating while improvements are being made.
Progress on the early reform actions announced by the Minister for Health and Ageing are outlined below.
While the HTA Policy and Methods Review included extensive consultation with stakeholders, we are continuing to consult on implementation and related matters. Upcoming stakeholder engagement opportunities will be promoted via this page.
Expression of Interest for the Multistakeholder Health Technology Assessment Reform and Implementation Reference Group
We are seeking expressions of interest from interested individuals for the Multistakeholder Health Technology Assessment Reform and Implementation Reference Group.
The Reference Group will provide advice to the department to support implementation of health technology assessment reforms. It will include consumers, patients and health professionals.
Applications are invited from consumers, patients, carers, prescribers, and pharmacists with relevant knowledge, experience or perspectives on access to medicines in Australia, especially health technology assessment.
Consultation with the pharmaceutical industry will occur separately from the reference group.
Register your expression of interest by completing the expression of interest form by 16 October 2026.
Progress on HTA improvements
| Initiative | Recommendation | Progress |
|---|---|---|
| Embedded First Nations perspectives | Recommendation 1 | 13 July 2026: The first formal bi-annual stakeholder meeting to consider specific issues related to medicines for First Nations people was held. |
| Addressing high unmet clinical need | Recommendation 44 | Early 2026: Experts held targeted consultations to better define the concepts of high unmet clinical need and high added therapeutic value in Australia. The experts are finalising their report. |
| Streamlined pathways | Recommendation 6 Recommendation 7 Recommendation 41 | Early 2026: Experts held targeted consultations to develop new streamlined HTA pathways for cost-minimisation and co-dependent applications. The reports provided by the experts are currently being reviewed by the department. |
| Stakeholder engagement | Recommendation 24 Recommendation 25 | 7 July 2026: A Framework for consumer engagement in HTA was published, that sets out a shared approach to engaging consumers across HTA processes and supports meaningful consumer involvement at every stage. See How to get involved with health technology assessment for more detail on consumer engagement. |
| Improving clarity of HTA processes | Recommendation 23 Recommendation 39 Recommendation 40 | Early 2026: Experts held targeted consultations to Update the PBAC Guidelines for pharmaceutical companies preparing an application for consideration to increase clarity on:
These updates will be incorporated into the published PBAC Guidelines once finalised. 18 June 2026: A more user-friendly Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) website was released to make it easier to see updates to PBS-listed medicines and search for relevant information. Central to the re-design was easy access to the Medicine Status Website (MSW), which enables consumers to search for and monitor the status of medicines as they progress through the PBS listing process. It also enables consumers to better understand how they can contribute to PBAC decision making and the steps that must be completed to list a medicine on the PBS. |
Upcoming engagement opportunities
The HTA Improvements team will be commencing a regular series of webinars in late 2026. The first webinar will be an information session on Strategic Agreements, aimed at patients, consumers and health professionals.
Details for how to register for the webinar will be added to this website, and subscribers of the HTA Improvements mailing list will be notified.
The webinar will also be recorded and made available from this page.
Subscribe to the HTA Improvements mailing list.