New Health Economics and Outcomes Research Trends Report Highlights AI, Real-World Evidence, Value-Based Healthcare, and Drug Pricing Among Key Themes
Lawrenceville, NJ, USA—January 20, 2026—ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) announced today the publication of its new “2026-2027 Top 10 HEOR Trends Report.” The Society publishes this report every 2 years as part of its horizon scanning and monitoring of the trends that affect healthcare decision making around the world. This marks the sixth publication of the ISPOR Top 10 HEOR Trends Report.
Artificial intelligence (AI) moves to the #1 spot on the trends list. AI is rapidly transforming healthcare and HEOR, creating new opportunities and challenges for responsible implementation. Real-world evidence (RWE) moves to #2 after appearing as the top trend in the past several reports. With the expanded use of RWE in regulatory assessments, the focus is centering on enhancing the availability, quality, and transparency of real-world data. Value-based healthcare is new to the trends report entering the list at #3 with attention to aligning health systems’ incentives to value. At #4 is the topic of drug pricing, which has appeared in some form in each of the past reports. Innovative therapies landed on the #5 spot for this report with the emphasis on fostering novel technologies that can make real advancements in health.
The full list of the top 10 trends outlined in the 2026-2027 report include:
- Artificial Intelligence: Transforming HEOR Through Responsible Use of AI
- Real-World Evidence: Enhancing Data Availability, Quality, and Transparency
- Value-Based Healthcare: Aligning Health Systems’ Incentives to Value
- Drug Pricing: Improving Patient Access and Affordability
- Innovative Therapies: Fostering Novel Technologies to Improve Health
- Patient Centricity: Dialing Up the Volume on the “Patient Voice”
- Relevance of HEOR: Demonstrating the Field’s Vital Role in Health
- Health Technology Assessment: Optimizing Cross-Country Collaboration
- Value Measurement: Expanding the Definition of Value to Include Whole Health
- Digital Health: Empowering Patients With Digital Therapeutics and Wearables
“ISPOR’s Top 10 HEOR Trends Report is an important horizon scanning publication for ISPOR,” stated CEO Rob Abbott. “It’s important to look forward to where healthcare is trending globally and leverage our work to best support our vision of a world where healthcare is accessible, effective, efficient, and affordable for all.”
Additional information can be found at:
Top 10 HEOR Trends Report | HEOR Explained | HEOR News Desk
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ABOUT ISPOR
ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR), is an international, multistakeholder, nonprofit dedicated to advancing HEOR excellence to improve decision making for health globally. The Society is the leading source for scientific conferences, peer-reviewed and MEDLINE®-indexed publications, good practices guidance, education, collaboration, and tools/resources in the field.
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