Cardiac ablation

More than 50 new DRGs were introduced in the Swedish system in 2019, while two have been deleted. The changes affected nursing care, psychiatry, hospital and day case services of different major disease categories. Important changes relate to cardiac ablation, placement of neurostimulator.

On 11th May, the Italian Ministry of Health announced from its website that five new Med Tech-related HTA documents are available for public consultation. See the details in the MTRC post.

A 104-page reimbursement report covers percutaneous, thoracoscopic and open in adjunction to heart surgery ablations in hospital settings. Radiofrequency, cryo and microwave ablation sources were considered. The analysis covers procedure coding, payment mechanism, reimbursement tariffs and policy restrictions in 11 EU countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

Emilia Romagna Region published a rapid assessment report on the cardiac cryoablation catheter (also known as cryoballoon) for atrial fibrillation (AF). The authors concluded that, compared to radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation is not linked to higher effectiveness but presents shorter procedural time.Emilia Romagna Region published a rapid assessment report on the cardiac cryoablation catheter (also known as cryoballoon) for atrial fibrillation (AF). The authors concluded that, compared to radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation is not linked to higher effectiveness but presents shorter procedural time.