Health technology assessment

On July 03, 2020, the network of European HTA agencies, EUnetHTA, published the final report for the Rapid Relative Effectiveness Assessment OTCA24 ‘The 24-hour blood pressure measurement device Mobil-O- Graph® with the built-in algorithm ARCSolver® to measure arterial stiffness for the optimization of hypertension treatment.”

On behalf of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) investigated whether (former) heavy smokers within statutory health insurance (SHI) should be offered lung cancer screening using low-dose computed tomography (LDCT).

In June 2020, the Andalusian Health Technology Assessment Department (AETSA) published an update of the earlier report (2012) on assessment of effectiveness and safety of tumor treating fields (TTF) therapy in glioblastoma.

The HTA body of the Tuscany Regional Healthcare issues two types of documents: HTA forms and motivational forms. With a regional decree 9004 of June 18, 2020, Tuscany Regional Healthcare has published assessments of nine medical devices of various therapeutic areas.

In February 2020, the Office for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) of Basque Country OSTEBA published an HTA report for efficacy and safety of mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in the treatment of patients with ischaemic stroke beyond 6 hours after onset or with an unknown time of onset. According to the report, the use of MT, together with standard medical treatment (SMT) in such patients, is justified provided that they meet the neuroimaging selection criteria applied to the studies analyzed.

On June 16, 2020, HTA Austria – Austrian Institute for Health Technology Assessment (AIHTA), issued an updated report on the indications for proton and carbon ion therapy with an overview of confirmed indications, indications that are only recommended under clinical research, and excluded indications.

In June 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published one new diagnostics guidance (tests to help assess the risk of acute kidney injury for people being considered for critical care admission), one new interventional procedure guidance (for intravascular lithotripsy for calcified coronary arteries during percutaneous coronary intervention), one new medical technologies guidance (for Rezum for treating lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia), and four Medtech innovation briefings (for MolecuLight i:X for wound imaging and others).

On June 18, 2020, the network of European HTA agencies, EUnetHTA, published the final report for the rapid assessment OTCA21 "Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation (HGNS) for treatment of obstructive sleep apnea."

In June 2020, the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS) published an assessment report on the effectiveness and safety of bilateral implantation of non-cochlear hearing implants in Spain.

The Health Institute Carlos III (ISCIII) in Spain analyzed the effectiveness and safety of the endovenous ablation of varicose saphenous veins with cyanoacrylate closure system in patients with moderate to severe chronic venous insufficiency compared to surgical procedures, as of saphenous vein stripping, and other endovenous ablation techniques. In the report, published on the website in 2020, it was outlined that despite the limitations found in selected studies, intravenous sealing with cyanoacrylates seems to be a promising alternative to existing treatments, especially in terms of less use of anesthesia and compression bandage, as well as shorter recovery time.

In early June 2020, the Austrian Ministry of Health published recommendations for further actions in the establishment of systematic HTA in the Austrian healthcare system, which were developed by the Federal Target Steering Commission in April.