Cancer

MedTech-related health technology assessments from NIHR in October 2022 In October 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in England released one MedTech-related report in its Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Journal, which concerned photodynamic versus white-light-guided resection of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. HTA Journal publishes research reports on the effectiveness, costs, and broader impact of health technologies for those who use, manage, and provide care in the NHS and informs National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance.

In October 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new Interventional Procedure Guidance (YAG laser vitreolysis for symptomatic vitreous floaters, transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the supraorbital nerve for treating and preventing migraine), one Medical Technologies Guidance (Magtrace and Sentimag system for locating sentinel lymph nodes for breast cancer) and three new Medtech Innovation Briefings (O2matic PRO 100, Daylight, Signatera). Also, one new clinical guideline was published on osteoarthritis.

On October 17, 2022, the Innovation Committee at the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) published the decision, recommending the transfer to standard care for another completed project. The project relates to the improvement of the management of cancer patients.

In September 2022, the Dutch Healthcare Institute (Zorginstituut Nederland, ZIN) announced three more projects which received a subsidy under the "Subsidy scheme for promising care" in 2022 for research of PET/CT scan instead of CT scan for post-screening in lung cancer, treatment for head and neck cancer that spares lymph nodes in the neck and surgery to prevent lymphedema after cancer treatment. In total, eight projects will receive a subsidy in 2022.

On September 5, 2022, it was announced that the Interterritorial Council for the Spanish National Health System (CISNS) approved the distribution of funds to the Autonomous Communities for the fight against cancer. The aim is to boost the screening programs for colorectal and cervical cancer.

On August 25, 2022, the Norwegian Directorate of Health announced the launch of the National screening program for colorectal cancer (Bowel screening program - Tarmscreeningprogrammet). All 55-year-old men and women will be included in the program and offered a test to identify invisible blood in the stool (fecal immunochemical test, FIT) every two years until the age of 65. Colonoscopy will be offered in case of positive FIT.

In August 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published five new Interventional Procedure Guidance (aortic remodeling hybrid stent insertion during surgical repair of aortic dissection, bioresorbable stent implantation to treat coronary artery disease, superficial venous arterialization for chronic limb ischemia, transcutaneous electrical neuromuscular stimulation for urinary incontinence, focal resurfacing implants to treat articular cartilage damage in the knee), and three new Medtech Innovation Briefings (Stockholm3 for prostate cancer screening, contrast-enhanced spectral mammography, differential target multiplexed spinal cord stimulation). Also, two Medical Technologies Guidance and two Medtech-related clinical guidelines were updated.

On August 11, 2022, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) announced that two new services in the in-vitro diagnostics field in lung and colon cancer, respectively, will be reimbursed via the German Uniform Evaluation Standard (EBM).

In July 2022, the Dutch Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) awarded 12 projects under the 2023 Open Round of the Efficiency Research program with a budget intended for funding research into clinical and cost-effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical care.

In the second quarter of 2022, Health Technology Wales (HTW) published four MedTech-related guidance (extreme hypofractionated radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer, video laryngoscopes for use in pre-hospital care, electronic blood management systems, and stereotactic ablative radiotherapy for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma). A total of 12 MedTech-related Topic Exploration Reports (TERs) were released in Q2. Based on the TERs conclusions, HTW decided to proceed with a full appraisal on three topics – photobiomodulation, topical oxygen therapy (NATROX) in chronic wounds, and video feedback interventions.

On July 15, 2022, the Austrian Institute for HTA (AIHTA) published five 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 four updates to previous decision support documents. The decisions relate mainly to cardiovascular and gastrointestinal technology groups.

The Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) is a national health technology assessment (HTA) agency providing advice to NHSScotland on using new and existing health technologies, likely to significantly impact healthcare. In July 2022, SHTG published three reports (KardiaMobile for detecting atrial fibrillation, complex endovascular aneurysm repair, and Togetherall platform). Currently, the SHTG is working on assessments of technologies in the field of cancer, radiotherapy, musculoskeletal diseases, transplantation, and other topics.