Shaping the future of HTA: YHEC at ISPOR Europe 2026

The YHEC team is preparing for ISPOR Europe 2026 in Vienna, where we will host a panel on environmental sustainability in HTA.

The panel, entitled 'Integrating Environmental Sustainability into HTA: Global Policy Archetypes and Future Directions for Access Decision-Making', is taking place on Monday 09 November at 4:45pm. YHEC Director of Pharmaceutical Consulting, Stuart Mealing, will lead the discussions.

Beyond our panel, YHEC will be presenting 16 posters throughout the conference, highlighting our insights across literature reviews and evidence synthesis, economic evaluation, expert elicitation and methods research.

If you are attending ISPOR, we’d love to see you there and take your questions during the sessions.

You can also find us at Booth 719.

Check out our full conference schedule.

Does saving time really save money?

Following her presentation at HTAi 2026, YHEC Project Director, Rachael MacDonald, considers why the economic value of time-saving health technologies is more complex than simply multiplying hours saved by staff costs.

In a YHEC blog, Rachael discusses situations where released time may create valuable capacity without generating an immediate cash saving. The value of that time depends on how it is released, how it can realistically be used, and who benefits.

Read the full blog. 

YHEC set to share insights at World Orphan Drug Congress

YHEC will be attending the World Orphan Drug Congress (WODC) Europe 2026.

Stuart Mealing, Director of Pharmaceutical Consulting, Andria Joseph, Project Director (Outcomes Research) and Charlotte Ahmadu, Senior Research Consultant (Reviews and Evidence Synthesis) will be joining the conversation in Amsterdam from 26 October. 

The team is looking forward to exchanging insights with industry peers, patient advocacy groups and global rare disease leaders during the three-day event. In addition, they will be hosting a roundtable discussion on defining minimum evidence standards for demographic diversity in rare diseases. 

Will you be attending? Contact us to schedule a meeting.

NVTAG Fall Symposium 2026

With the introduction of the EU HTA Regulation, understanding the real-world impact of Joint Clinical Assessments (JCA) is a high priority across the health economics and market access sector.

YHEC Principal Medical Writer, Emily Gregg, attended the NVTAG Fall Symposium 2026, where the theme was 'Early Insights and Experiences with Joint Clinical Assessments'.

The symposium considered findings from the first published JCA reports, challenges in navigating complex PICO requirements, national implementation and the evolving European HTA evidence landscape.

Talk to our experts about the support available at YHEC for JCA submissions.

Introducing the SUSTAIN-HTA Learning Hub

The SUSTAIN-HTA Learning Hub is a new online training platform designed to strengthen capacity in innovative Health Technology Assessment (HTA) methods.

Developed jointly by academic institutions and HTA bodies, the Learning Hub brings together training needs assessment, SUSTAIN-HTA
e-learning courses, external training resources and methodological guidance in one place. The first course focuses on Environmental Aspects in HTA, introducing key methods and frameworks for assessing environmental impacts and exploring how environmental evidence can be systematically incorporated into HTA.

We’re pleased to highlight the contribution of YHEC colleagues Melissa Pegg, Professor Matthew Taylor and Hannah Ross, who were involved in the development of this work.

Find out more about the Learning Hub.

Inspiring the next generation of health economists

For 40 years, YHEC has combined academic knowledge with real-world health economics research and consultancy. Our close connection with the University of York’s MSc in Health Economics programme has been an important part of that journey.

In an anniversary blog, we look at how our summer work experience placements help students put their learning into practice, develop new skills and take their first steps into health economics consultancy.

We hear from Barbara Uzdzinska, who joined YHEC as an MSc placement student before progressing to Senior Research Consultant, and our CEO Matthew Taylor, who shares his perspective on the value of nurturing talent and turning students’ curiosity into research.

Read the blog.

Meet the team: Laura Kelly

You don’t always need a complete evidence base to start asking important questions about value.

Early-stage economic modelling can help digital health innovators investigate how a technology might fit into the healthcare pathway, where it could deliver benefits, and what evidence is still needed.

In our Meet the Team blog, Laura Kelly, Senior Research Consultant at YHEC, explains how she uses modelling to help clients navigate these questions.

She also shares her thoughts on women’s health, digital mental health and the importance of bringing patient perspectives into economic evaluation.

Read the interview.

Staff news

YHEC would like to congratulate Emily Gregg on being promoted to Principal Medical Writer.

Well done, Emily!

YHEC colleagues meet for strategy day

The YHEC team recently came together for our strategy day, taking time to reflect on what we’ve achieved, share ideas and look ahead to what comes next.

A great opportunity to connect, collaborate and celebrate the people who make YHEC what it is.

40 years of YHEC and 40km for Age UK York

To celebrate 40 years of YHEC, our staff took on a 40km walk along the York Millennium Way, raising money for Age UK York.

It was a chance to mark this special milestone together, explore our home city on foot and support an organisation doing important work to improve later life for older people across York.

If you’d like to support our team, you can donate to our fundraising.

New webinar: how might environmental sustainability be evaluated in health technology assessment?

YHEC Senior Research Consultant, Melissa Pegg, hosts the final webinar of five in our free series on the foundations of sustainable healthcare on Friday 27 November at 1pm.

Melissa is co-founder and was the inaugural chair of the HTAi Environmental Sustainability in HTA (ESHTA) Working Group. Across this series, she has examined why incorporating environmental sustainability into evaluation frameworks may help support the long-term sustainability of healthcare systems.

Register on our website.

PharmacoEconomics

A recent publication examines the clinical outcomes and carbon footprint of once-weekly semaglutide 2.4 mg for people living with obesity in the UK.

Co-authored by YHEC CEO Professor Matthew Taylor, the study used disease modelling to assess the impact of semaglutide alongside diet and exercise, compared with diet and exercise alone.

The research highlights the importance of considering both clinical outcomes and environmental considerations when evaluating healthcare interventions.

Read the publication.

Addiction

An economic evaluation of the I-WOTCH trial, co-authored by YHEC's Dr Joe Moss, examines the costs and health outcomes of a group-based intervention designed to support people with chronic non-malignant pain to reduce their use of strong opioids.

Read the full article to find out more about the economic evaluation and what it means for decision-making around opioid reduction.

Lancet Regional Health

Smoking after a cancer diagnosis can negatively affect cancer outcomes, but what are the potential health and economic benefits of integrating smoking cessation services directly into cancer care?

A UK cost-effectiveness analysis, co-authored by YHEC's Robert Malcolm, Sam Harper and Ellen Telfer-Thomas, examined this question across four cancer populations.

This research is one of three studies cited in the WHO / International Agency for Research on Cancer evidence briefing, highlighting the economic case for embedding cessation services within NHS cancer care.

Read more.

PharmacoEconomics

How systematic do systematic reviews of health economic evaluations really need to be?

A paper by YHEC’s Chris Bartlett, Rachael McCool and Professor Matthew Taylor examines how systematic reviews of health economic evaluations are prescribed by HTA agencies, how they are conducted in practice, and whether methodological deviations actually matter.

Could a more pragmatic approach make HTA more efficient while reducing research waste?

Read the open-access paper.

Put your expertise to work

YHEC brings together specialists in health economics, health technology assessment, evidence synthesis, outcomes research and more, working to inform healthcare decision-making.

Interested in joining our team? Explore current vacancies and find out more about working at YHEC on our website.