Health technology assessment

The HTA body of the Tuscany Regional Healthcare issues two types of documents: HTA forms and motivational forms. With regional decree 10778 of June 01, 2022, Tuscany Regional Healthcare has published assessments of nine medical devices in various therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular and peripheral vascular areas, surgical procedures, orthopedics, and dermatology.

On June 15, 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) announced designing Health Technology Assessment innovation Laboratory (HTA Lab), a new collaborative space for research and development. It will help drive solutions to current and future health challenges, taking innovation from the lab into practice, using a "sandbox" approach

On June 15, 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) announced a new program called Early Value Assessment for Medtech. The program will offer a rapid assessment of digital products, devices, and diagnostics for clinical effectiveness and value for money where the evidence base is still emerging to inform NHS commissioners. The two pilot assessments for health apps will begin in June 2022 and are expected to be published in October 2022. Further topics are expected in mental health, early cancer diagnosis, and cardiovascular disease.

On May 19, 2022, the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services commissioned the four regional health trusts to follow up on the evaluations conducted as a part of a framework for the managed introduction of innovations “New Methods”.

In May 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Research in England released three MedTech-related reports in its Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Journal, which concerned colonoscopy surveillance following adenoma removal and transfer of thawed frozen embryo versus fresh embryo to improve the healthy baby rate in women undergoing IVF, and digital smartphone intervention for schizophrenia. 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 guidance.

In May 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published three new Interventional Procedure Guidance (endoanchoring systems in endovascular aortic aneurysm repair, supercapsular percutaneously assisted total hip arthroplasty for osteoarthritis, personalized external aortic root support using mesh in people with Marfan syndrome), one Medical Technologies Guidance (Sleepio to treat insomnia and insomnia symptoms), and six Medtech innovation Briefings (ViewSite Brain Access System, Granulox for managing chronic wounds, AMBLor for identifying melanomas, Bladder EpiCheck for detecting bladder cancer recurrence, and others). No MedTech-related clinical guidelines were published.

In April 2022, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in England released two MedTech-related reports in its Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Journal, which concerned uterine artery embolization versus myomectomy for premenopausal women with uterine fibroids and supraglottic airway device versus tracheal intubation in the initial airway management. 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 April 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new Interventional Procedure Guidance (intramedullary distraction for upper limb lengthening, liposuction for chronic lymphoedema). Also, one new clinical guideline on epilepsies in children, young people, and adults was published, and one for stroke and transient ischaemic attack in over 16s was updated.

In Q1 of 2022, Health Technology Wales (HTW) published one MedTech-related guidance on transcranial magnetic stimulation in depression treatment. A total of eleven Topic Exploration Reports (TERs) were released in Q1. Based on the TERs conclusions, HTW's Assessment Group decided to proceed with developing an Evidence Appraisal Report (EAR) and Guidance on one topic only - radiofrequency renal denervation for the treatment of resistant hypertension.

In March 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published five new Interventional Procedure Guidance (endoscopic balloon dilation for subglottic or tracheal stenosis, intramedullary distraction for lower limb lengthening, endoscopic full thickness removal of gastrointestinal stromal tumors of the stomach, percutaneous insertion of a cystic duct stent after cholecystostomy, and liposuction for chronic lipoedema), four new Medical Technologies Guidance (myCOPD, UroShield, Prontosan for wounds, and 3C Patch for diabetic foot ulcers), one new Diagnostic Guidance (terminated assessment of Freelite assays for multiple myeloma), and six new Medtech Innovation Briefings (Genedrive MT-RNR1 ID System, icobrain for multiple sclerosis, Al for analyzing chest X-ray images, and others). Also, three new clinical guidelines were published, and six were updated.

In February 2022, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in England released six MedTech-related reports in its Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Journal, which concerned biomarkers for assessing acute kidney injury, non-invasive testing for neovascular macular degeneration, decision support tool to prevent falls in older people, endometrial scratch, distal radius fracture, and test for group B Streptococcus. 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.

On March 18, 2022, the Norwegian National Institute of Public Health released an HTA report on the evaluation of surgical procedures for obesity treatment. The authors concluded that it is uncertain whether there is any difference in the risk of early mortality and the effect on weight status between different types of surgical procedures for the treatment of obesity.