Health Technology Assessment (HTA) calls for common tools of communication. The HTA glossary is an official collaboration between INAHTA, HTAi and other partner organizations.

The glossary reflects the need articulated by the HTA community at the 2002 annual INAHTA meeting for a list of standard definitions of terms used in health technology assessment to give the HTA community a common vocabulary.

In 2006, the first edition of the INAHTA Health Technology Assessment Glossary compiled by Dr. Karen Facey, edited by Leigh-Ann Topfer and Liza Chan on behalf of INAHTA was published in English . Entries in this glossary were created by selecting terms from existing glossaries and from terms and sources suggested by many individuals working in the field of HTA.

Efforts of translating and adapting the glossary into other languages started with discussions at the 2006 INAHTA meeting in Adelaide.

The initial development of the French language version by Comité d’évaluation et de diffusion des innovations technologiques (CEDIT) was continued by Agence d’évaluation des technologies et des modes d’intervention en santé (AETMIS) in collaboration with all francophone INAHTA member agencies and the Translation Bureau of the Canadian Federal Government. The Galician Agency for Health Technology Assessment (AVALIA-T) has been coordinating the collaboration on the Spanish version of the glossary.In its current form, the HTA Glossary is available in English, French and Spanish.

The HTA Glossary website is hosted by Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS) as a contribution to this international collaboration.

As a global common good, the HTA glossary is available under a Creative Commons license.