The process of health technology assessment (HTA) is an opportunity to identify gaps in the existing knowledge on the technology assessed. In January 2020, the Evaluation Unit of the Canary Islands Health Service, belonging to the Spanish Network of Agencies for Assessing National Health System Technologies and Performance, started a structured strategy to include in its HTA reports information on research priorities for the assessed technologies from the perspective of patients, clinicians, and researchers. The aim of this poster is to explain the methodology behind this strategy.

The following three-step process was proposed:

1. (i) Identify the knowledge gaps regarding the technology from systematic reviews on effectiveness, safety, and cost effectiveness, in addition to ethical, patient, social, legal, and organizational aspects analyzed for the HTA report;

2. (ii) Search for specific studies on research needs regarding the technology on the websites of specialized initiatives such as the Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) and the James Lind Alliance; and

3. (iiii) If no needs are identified in the previous two steps, consult a group of clinicians or researchers and patients related to the technology being assessed with two online survey rounds using the Delphi method. The first round identifies the research needs and the second round prioritizes the identified needs.

Since the methodology to identify future research needs during a HTA process was designed, it has been used in three HTA reports during 2020 with satisfactory results. Only one of the three reports required a Delphi study.

The proposed strategy provides a comprehensive list of knowledge gaps on health technologies that need to be addressed in the near future from the point of view of patients, clinicians, and researchers.