Gynecology procedures

In September 2024, the Finnish classification of procedures (THL) was updated two times. On September 6, 2024, seven new procedure codes concerning mental health and dental procedures were introduced. On September 11, 2024, forty new procedure codes concerning gastrointestinal, obstetrics and gynecology, surgical procedures, and some other fields were introduced. The codes will come into force on January 1, 2025.

In early July 2024, Dutch Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) awarded seventeen projects under the Efficiency Research program, including four projects on e-health, two projects on diagnostic imaging techniques, two projects in orthopedics, one project on abdominal surgery, one project in gynecology, and one project in the cardiovascular area.

On August 7, 2024, the National Agency for Regional Health Services (AGENAS) announced a call for applications for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) for robotic surgery systems with intended use in the following surgical specialties: general surgery, gynecology and obstetrics, and urology, as part of the 2023-2025 National Health Technology Assessment Program for Medical Devices.

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 16951 of July 22, 2024, Tuscany Regional Healthcare published five new assessments and two reassessments of medical devices in the cardiovascular, peripheral vascular, surgical procedures, and obstetrics and gynecology areas.

On May 01, 2024, the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) published the first release of the 2025 DRG package (RZ25a). Three new procedure codes, five new supplementary payments, four new diagnosis codes and one new DRG will be implemented across gynecology, cardiology, neurology and neurosurgery, and other technology groups.

On January 30, 2024, 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 2023. The medical technologies of cardiovascular, ENT, extracorporeal, gastrointestinal, neuromodulation, and other technology groups obtained positive status 1.

On January 01, 2024, the Dutch Healthcare Institute (ZIN) published the updated list of medical procedures reimbursed under basic health insurance with restrictions or limitations. The procedures that were newly introduced to the list concern pulmonary, gynecology and ENT procedures, as well as genetic testing.

On November 29, 2023, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health published the changes that will occur to the Services Ordinance (KLV/OPre), which determines coverage of medical services in Switzerland. The updates will enter into force on January 1 or July 1, 2024, and they relate to the list of explicitly evaluated services (Annex 1 of KLV/OPre), outpatient-before-hospital services (Annex 1a), List of Tools and Equipment (Annex 2), and List of Analyses (Annex 3).

On November 30, 2023, the entity managing the DRG system in Switzerland, SwissDRG, published the final version of the 2024 DRG system. In total, 34 new DRGs were introduced, and they concern cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, men’s health, nephrology and urology, neurology and neurosurgery, neuromodulation, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, pulmonary, and some other technology groups. Also, two new add-on reimbursement categories were introduced.

In October 2023, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new Interventional Procedure Guidance (percutaneous deep venous arterialisation, vaginal transluminal endoscopic hysterectomy and adnexal surgery) and two Health Technology Evaluations using early value assessment (digital technologies for delivering specialist weight-management services, virtual ward platform technologies for acute respiratory infections). Also, one new clinical guideline was published, and eight were updated.

In September 2023, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published three new Interventional Procedure Guidance (removal, preservation, and reimplantation of ovarian tissue for restoring fertility, transurethral water-jet ablation for lower urinary tract symptoms, cryotherapy for chronic rhinitis), and three Health Technology Evaluations using early value assessment (AI-derived software to analyze chest X-rays for suspected lung cancer, AI technologies to aid contouring for radiotherapy planning, KardiaMobile 6L for adults having antipsychotic medication). Also, two new clinical guidelines were published, and three were updated.

On August 10, 2023, the Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) working group, which develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclatures for private payers in England, published Bulletins 191 and 087 with changes to be implemented no later than October 6, 2023. Five new procedure codes (concerning urogynecology, robotic surgery, and neuromodulation) and six new codes for in-vitro diagnostics were introduced.