Health technology assessment

The HTA unit of the Lombardy region opens the possibility for the public to comment on the health technologies which are in the assessment phase. The call is open until February 28, 2020.

Norway established in 2013 a framework “New Method” for the introduction of innovations into the health care system through either a national or hospital-based health technology assessment. In this framework, all innovations should undergo HTA before being funded. In January 2020, four new mini-HTA projects of medical technologies were launched in Norway: robotic-assisted procedures, ear reconstruction, continuous electroencephalography, among others.

In December 2019, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health released an HTA report regarding the effectiveness of uterine fibroids treatment commissioned by the Centre for joint decision-making to summarize the findings regarding this method. Embolization probably reduces the time that is needed to get back to the activity in comparison to myomectomy and hysterectomy.

In early January 2020, the network of European HTA agencies, EUnetHTA, announced the final plan of the project OTCA24 “The 24-hour blood pressure measurement device Mobil-O-Graph® with the built-in pulse wave velocity algorithm ARCSolver® to measure arterial stiffness for the optimization of hypertension treatment and assessment of cardiovascular risk”.

With a regional decree of December 18, 2019, Tuscany Regional Healthcare has published assessments of thirteen medical devices belonging to various therapeutic areas.

In December 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published one new interventional procedure guidance (for balloon dilation for chronic eustachian tube dysfunction), one new medical technologies guidance (for gammaCore for cluster headache), and five new MedTech innovation briefings (for Optowire for measuring fractional flow reserve, eXroid for internal hemorrhoids, and others).

In mid-November 2019, the report of the project OTCA20, titled “Prophylactic or therapeutic use of endoanchoring systems in endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR/TEVAR)” was published on the website of the European Network for HTA (EUnetHTA).

In early November 2019, the report of the project OTCA18, titled “Regional hyperthermia for high-risk soft tissue sarcoma treatment” was published on the website of the European Network for HTA (EUnetHTA).

In late November 2019, the network of European HTA agencies, EUnetHTA, announced the final plan of the project OTCA23 “Biodegradable rectum spacers to reduce toxicity for prostate cancer.”

In November 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new diagnostics guidance (for point-of-care creatinine devices and rapid tests for group A streptococcal infections), one new interventional procedure guidance (for irreversible electroporation for primary liver cancer) and two new MedTech innovation briefings (for Leukomed Sorbact for preventing surgical site infection and AmnioSense for unexplained vaginal wetness in pregnancy).

On the 10th of December 2019, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI-HTA) has released a report on the implementation of an HPV screening test for the early detection of cervical cancer in women as a measure of cervical cancer prevention. The recommendations are positive.

In late November 2019, new HTA activities were published on the website of regional HTA program of Lombardy Region, after a period of inactivity. Twenty-six (26) new technologies are currently in various stages of the HTA process, and they should all be completed in 2020.