Cancer

In February 2023, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new Interventional Procedure Guidance (transvenous obliteration for gastric varices, biodegradable spacer to reduce rectal toxicity during radiotherapy for prostate cancer), one new Health Technology Evaluation (guided self-help digital cognitive behavioural therapy), and two new Medtech Innovation Briefings (LIVERFASt, and Ambu aScope 4 RhinoLaryngo). Also, one new clinical guideline was published, and one was updated.

On February 23, 2023, the Innovation Committee at the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) published the decisions, recommending the transfer to standard care for another three completed projects. The projects relate to preventing the family risk of colorectal carcinoma, shared decision-making in the hospitals, and digitally supported drug therapy management.

In February 2023, the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (INAMI-RIZIV) announced the completion of a pilot project for gene expression profiling (GEP) tests in early-stage breast cancer, which ran from 2019. The pilot showed significant benefits, and INAMI-RIZIV launched a reimbursement for certain tests under the specific agreement (GEP convention) with healthcare providers.

On January 30, 2023, the Institute for the Hospital Remuneration System (InEK) published the list of the requests for innovation funding (NUB) that were submitted by the hospitals in 2022. The medical technologies belonging to the cardiovascular, eHealth, gastrointestinal, neuromodulation, neurovascular, peripheral vascular, orthopedic, and other technology groups obtained positive status 1.

On December 19, 2022, the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) issued a draft release of the DRG package for 2024, including new procedure codes, new diagnosis codes, and several new DRGs. These changes concern pulmonary, gynecology, ENT, orthopedics, and other technology groups.

The HTA body of the Tuscany Regional Healthcare issues three types of documents: full HTA reports, rapid HTA reports, and motivational forms. With regional decree 24486 of December 7, 2022, Tuscany Regional Healthcare has published assessments of three medical devices in the surgical procedures, neurology and neurosurgery, and extracorporeal treatments areas.

The new version of the classification of procedure codes (CCAM v.71), applicable from December 03, 2022, was published in France. Several changes were introduced, including the creation of four new codes related to ENT, pulmonary and airways, and interventional radiology areas. Also, the modification of tariffs for 50 dental procedure codes will enter into force on January 01, 2023.

On November 3, 2022, the decision of the National Union of Health Insurance Funds relating to the update of the CCAM Nomenclature of procedure codes was published in the Official Journal of the French Republic. Four new procedure codes were introduced. The codes relate to the procedures of implantation and removal of the bone conduction hearing aid and destruction of bronchopulmonary tumors by radiofrequency.

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.