Med Tech-related technology assessments from NICE in January 2026

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) develops HealthTech Guidance (HTG) to evaluate non-medicine technologies (such as diagnostics, medical devices, and digital technologies, including artificial intelligence) and interventional procedures. The program focuses on assessing the clinical and cost-effectiveness of HealthTech products and the safety and efficacy of interventional procedures. 

NICE uses a lifecycle approach, reflecting the development stage of technology: Early use (innovative technologies with potential to address NHS unmet needs but insufficient evidence); Routine use (innovative technologies with sufficient evidence for widespread NHS adoption); Existing use (assess technologies in widespread use in the NHS to inform commissioning and procurement decisions).

NICE generally makes four types of recommendations:

• “Can be used” is the most favorable recommendation, meaning routine NHS use;
• “Can be used during the evidence generation period” – recommendation is conditional on evidence generation;
• “More research is needed” – limits the use to research settings only;
• “Should not be used”.

The exception is existing use HTG, which recommends whether any technology should be used over other similar technologies in widespread NHS use, and what to consider when choosing between them.

Recommendations are not binding, although they are typically followed by providers and commissioners.

In January 2026, NICE released three new HTGs.

NICE updated interventional procedure guidance on balloon cryoablation for Barrett's esophagus in adults and concluded that more research is needed before it can be used in the NHS. This procedure should be performed only as part of formal research, and its use must have been approved by a research ethics committee.

Early-use HTG on digital self-help for eating disorders made the following recommendations:

• “Overcoming Bulimia Online” (by Five Areas) can be used in the NHS during the evidence generation period as an option to treat binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED) with similar features to binge eating disorder or bulimia nervosa, or disordered eating with similar features to binge eating disorder or bulimia nervosa. “Overcoming Bulimia Online” should only be used after an initial eating disorder assessment in primary care or further assessment by specialist eating disorder services and alongside usual waiting list care, such as regular check-ins and routine physical monitoring;
• More research is needed on Digital CBTe (by Credo Therapies) and Worth Warrior (by stem4) to treat eating disorders before they can be funded by the NHS.

Early-use HTG on digital technologies for managing mild to moderate symptoms of hip or knee osteoarthritis recommended eight digital technologies (getUBetter, Good Boost, Hinge Health, Joint Academy, Phio Engage, re.flex, Sword Thrive, TrackActiveMe) to be used in the NHS during the evidence generation period as options to manage mild to moderate symptoms of hip or knee osteoarthritis in adults. More research is needed on one technology (Pathway Through Arthritis). 

See the full details here.

This news is just one of about 300 market access news collected by our team in the premium subscription service Market Access Monitor every week from more than 80 organizations. Access our paid service to stay on top of all developments specifically for your products in Europe (reimbursement news) and globally (HTA news). Access is organized as an online Database and email alert formats. Contact us to get a free, three-month, no-obligation trial.