Austria

On June 30, 2025, the document "Changes and innovations in the 2026 LKF model" (Änderungen und Neuerungen in den LKF-Modellen 2026) was published. The document summarizes the most significant changes and innovations in the LKF model for inpatient and outpatient care. The procedure codes expected to be introduced in 2026 mainly concern e-health, endoscopy, interventional radiology, orthopedics, pulmonology, and robotic fields.

In December 2024, the Austrian Institute for HTA published a project report on the threshold values in health economic evaluations and decision-making. It concluded that, despite their complexity, implementing thresholds could enhance transparency and efficiency in health systems.

On July 10, 2024, the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (BMSGPK) informed that the federal government, states, and sickness funds had defined their priorities for digitizing the healthcare system within the healthcare reform. The corresponding document, “eHealth Strategy Austria”, was presented on July 10, 2024, outlining the priorities up to 2030.

On July 15, 2024, the Austrian Institute for HTA (AIHTA) published three decision support documents that provide recommendations regarding the inclusion of new medical interventions in the catalog of individual medical services (MEL) for reimbursement, as well as two updates to previous decision support documents. The decisions relate to cardiovascular, peripheral vascular, interventional radiology, neuromodulation, and endocrine technology groups.

On June 26, 2024, the document "Changes and innovations in the 2025 LKF model" (Änderungen und Neuerungen in den LKF-Modellen 2025) was published. The document summarizes the most significant changes and innovations in the LKF model for inpatient and outpatient care. The newly added procedure codes mainly concern e-health, interventional radiology, pulmonary and airways, and surgical procedures fields.

On June 7, 2024, the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (BMSGPK) informed that the federal government, states, and sickness funds have agreed on concrete actions to implement healthcare reform. The reform will focus on various aspects, such as establishment of special outpatient clinics, the expansion of primary care, and improvement of the situation of digital healthcare.

In January-March 2023, the Austrian Institute for HTA published Rapid reviews of three health technologies: liposuction for the removal of subcutaneous (large) lipomas, biomarkers in Parkinson's disease, and the use of telepathology in intraoperative frozen section examination.

On February 08, 2024, the Austrian Institute for HTA (AIHTA) published the 2023 annual HTA report. The report contains AIHTA works, activities, and publications in 2023, including medical technologies belonging to technology groups such as robotic surgery, diagnostic imaging, and neurology.

In December 2023, the Austrian Institute for HTA published Rapid reviews of two health technologies: endovenous laser therapy for varicose veins of the lower extremities and autologous fat transplantation for osteoarthritis.

On October 18, 2023, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (BMSGPK) announced that its budget would increase by 3.9 billion to 25.8 billion euros (by 18%) in the coming year. 1.1 billion euros from the budget will be allocated for the health care reform, which will be implemented as part of the financial equalization.

On July 17, 2022, the Austrian Institute for HTA (AIHTA) published four decision support documents, which provide recommendations regarding the inclusion of new medical interventions in the catalog of individual medical services of the performance-oriented hospital financing (Leistungsorientierten Krankenanstaltenfinanzierung, LKF) model, as well as three updates to previous decision support documents.

On July 3, 2023, the document "Changes and innovations in the 2024 LKF model" (Änderungen und Neuerungen in den LKF-Modellen 2024) was published. The document summarizes the most significant changes and innovations in the LKF model for inpatient and outpatient care. The newly added procedure codes mainly concern endoscopic procedures, orthopedics, peripheral vascular, and pulmonary and airways fields.