Germany

On May 27, 2024, the Innovation Committee at the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) announced that ninety-one applications (project ideas) for innovation funding of the projects for new forms of care were received.

On May 17, 2024, 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 were dedicated to the topics of booster vaccination against meningococci of serogroup C, reduction of antibiotic resistance, and dual pilot structure for diagnosis clarification in centers for rare diseases.

On May 17, 2024, the Innovation Committee at the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) announced that forty-eight applications for innovation funding of healthcare research projects were accepted.

On April 22, 2024, the Innovation Committee at the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) announced that fourteen applications for innovation funding of development or further development of the clinical guidelines were accepted.

On April 19, 2024, the Innovation Committee at the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) announced the start of the application period for submission of the proposed topics for new funding announcements for the projects in the field of health services research, as well as for the new forms of care.

On April 3, 2024, the revised EBM (German Uniform Evaluation Standard) catalog for the second quarter of 2024 was published. The changes introduced mainly concern updating the content of several EBM sections with the respective comments and/or clarifications and introducing the new EBM codes for the services provided within the co-funded study on sleep position therapy in mild to moderate position-dependent obstructive sleep apnea.

On March 28, 2024, it was announced that the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband), and the German Hospital Federation (DKG) agreed to extend the Hybrid DRGs catalog with about 100 more procedures to be reimbursed via the Hybrid DRGs mechanism starting in 2025.

On March 26, 2024, the “Digital Law – DigiG” (Law to accelerate the digitalization of the healthcare system) came into force, leading a line of changes concerning the G-BA Innovation Fund: the Fund becomes permanent and also the funding procedure for the projects dedicated to the new forms of care changes.

On March 22, 2024, the Innovation Committee at the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) published the determined funding priorities for projects on new forms of care (for single-stage process – open topic and for two-stage process – nine topics).

On March 7, 2024, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) informed that it had reached an agreement with the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband) regarding the billing of the hybrid DRGs. The agreement applies retroactively from January 1, 2024.

On February 26, 2023, the InEK (Institute for the Hospital Remuneration System) published the updated DRG catalog (Fallpauschalen-Katalog) with the list of DRGs and additional reimbursement categories (ZEs) for 2024.

On January 19, 2024, 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 evaluated the web-based initial assessment tool SmED in outpatient emergency care.