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 reform actions are outlined below. These include the early actions announced by the Minister for Health and Ageing.
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
Applications have now closed for expressions of interest 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 were 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.
We are assessing applications following a high volume of responses and will be in touch with applicants shortly.
Progress on HTA improvements
| Initiative | Recommendation | Progress |
|---|---|---|
| Embedded First Nations perspectives | 1 | 13 July 2026: The first formal bi-annual stakeholder meeting to consider specific issues related to medicines for First Nations people was held. |
| Proactive identification of new technologies | 47 | October 2026: With partial funding from the Australian Government through a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grant, the Health Innovation Observatory Australia (HIO-A) is working collaboratively with partners across the health sector to develop a national horizon scanning approach. The first HIO-A Horizon Scanning Symposium was held on 29 September 2026. |
| Addressing high unmet clinical need | 44 | Early 2026: Experts held targeted consultations to better define the concepts of high unmet clinical need and high added therapeutic value in Australia. Stakeholder feedback is now being consolidated for review by HTA committees. |
| Enhanced paediatric access | 2 | October 2026: Early engagement has commenced with the Chief Health Economist. |
| Streamlined pathways | 6 7 41 | Early 2026: Experts held targeted consultations to develop new streamlined HTA pathways for cost-minimisation and co-dependent applications. Stakeholder feedback is now being consolidated for review by HTA committees. |
| Strengthened cross-governmental HTA co-funding processes | 13 | July 2026: The 2026-31 National Health Reform Agreement (NHRA) commits to further developing a unified national HTA process led by the Health Technology and Genomics Collaboration (HTGC). The NHRA also commits to identify improvements to the Framework for the assessment, funding and implementation of high cost, highly specialised therapies and services (HST Framework), by June 2027. |
| Stakeholder engagement | 24 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 | 17 22 23 39 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. October 2026: Simplified PBAC submission details and outcomes are now published on the medicine status website, alongside details about the progress to PBS listing. Feedback has been invited from stakeholders, and continuous improvements are progressing to address feedback. |
Upcoming engagement opportunities
The HTA Improvements team will be commencing a regular series of webinars.
View the HTA webinar upcoming schedule, register and access recordings.
Subscribe to the HTA Improvements mailing list.