Austria

The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute (LBI-HTA), the Austrian HTA body, develops health technology assessments of medical technologies to support decision-making about coverage of these methods in Austrian public reimbursement system. MTRC summarized the list of reports to be published by LBI-HTA until the end of 2018.

In mid-May 2018, the Basque office for Health Technology Assessment, OSTEBA, has published a rapid assessment report on treating prostate cancer with high-intensity focused ultrasound. The article is published under EUnetHTA framework.

The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute – Health Technology Assessment (LBI-HTA) released seven decision support documents in 2017. In these, three technologies were recommended for inclusion into the national benefit catalogue. The rest was preliminarily not recommended for inclusion. HTA by LBI-HTA have indirect but strong connection to decision making about funding by the Ministry of Health.

The new Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) system, called “LKF system” in Austria came into effect on January 1st 2018. It is used for the reimbursement, documentation and cost data collection of inpatient and day case services in Austrian hospitals. Compared to the last version, the LKF system for 2018 includes two newly established procedure groups (Oncological Immunotherapy and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) as well as several new procedures and changes in the association of procedures to specific groups. See details in the MTRC report.

The Austrian HTA body LBI-HTA performed a systematic review of health economic evaluations of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) compared to medical treatment and surgical aortic valve replacement for inoperable and operable patients with high or moderate surgical risk. The result of the review have only limited transferability to Austria, and LBI-HTA concluded, that the currently applied selection of patients based on clinical parameters can be considered as good practice.

Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs engaged London School of Economics to undertake efficiency review of country’s social insurance system. Policy recommendations presented in the report include harmonisation of benefits (dentistry, non-medical services, medical aids and medical therapeutic devices), the introduction of an agency for quality assurance and modernisation of outpatient care.

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Technology Assessment (LBI-HTA) released results of a re-evaluation of percutaneous volume reduction of the intervertebral disk with a focus on chemolucleolysis. Based on current evidence, chemonucleolysis was recommended for inclusion into health benefit catalogue in Austria while percutaneous nucleotomy and percutaneous laser disc decompression were currently not recommended.

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Technology Assessment (LBI-HTA) released results of re-evaluation of leadless pacemakers for right ventricular pacing. Due to lack of comparative evidence vs conventional pacemakers, leadless pacemakers were not recommended for inclusion into health benefit catalogue in Austria.

Ludwig Boltzmann Institute HTA evaluated EST for GERD and found the current evidence insufficient to recommend its inclusion into health benefit catalogue. Reevaluation is recommended in 2022 when more evidence becomes available.

In 2017, PAE was evaluated by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute – Health Technology Assessment (LBI-HTA) to define whether evidence for this minimally invasive procedure can be sufficient for inclusion into benefit catalogue. Within this research work, evidence in relation to efficacy and safety of PAE was assessed in comparison to transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) and open prostatectomy. Based on the results of literature review, LBI-HTA did not recommend PAE for inclusion into benefit catalogue in Austria. LBI-HTA recommended re-evaluating PAE procedure in the 2021 year when new potential evidence is available.

The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute – Health Technology Assessment (LBI-HTA) has published report with results of systematic literature review of application extracorporeal cytokine adsorption therapy (ECAT) for treatment and prevention of sepsis or systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Considered evidence was assessed as insufficient to prove that ECAT is effective and safe procedure in patients with sepsis, septic shock and SIRS. Therefore, ECAT is currently not recommended for inclusion into the benefit catalogue.