Health technology assessment

In September 2019, the French High Authority for Health (HAS) has released an assessment report regarding the evaluation of total or partial robotic-assisted nephrectomy, compared to open surgery and conventional laparoscopic surgery. Due to the lack of any prospective comparative studies reporting robust results with relevant judgment criteria and collected with appropriate follow-up time, HAS could not comment on the expected service or the expected service improvement of robot-assisted nephrectomy compared to open surgery or conventional laparoscopic surgery.

On the 2nd of September 2019, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI-HTA) has released a report on guideline recommendations comprising screening for diabetes mellitus.

MTRC has developed three reports on the key market access topics, including innovation funding, health technology assessment and funding frameworks for medical devices. These reports help to understand the relevance of these frameworks to certain types of medical technologies, including E-Health technologies. This post provides some key facts about the HTA, funding and innovation payment landscape for cardiovascular devices in Europe.

In August 2019, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has released an HTA report regarding the effectiveness of treatment for localized prostate cancer commissioned by the Centre for joint decision-making to summarize the findings regarding this method. The effectiveness of the several treatment methods is unknown due to the lack of evidence. There is little or no difference in survival after radical prostatectomy compared to low-dose-rate brachytherapy.

MTRC has developed three reports on the key market access topics, including innovation funding, health technology assessment and funding frameworks for medical devices. These reports help to understand the relevance of these frameworks to certain types of medical technologies, including diagnostic imaging technologies. This post provides some key facts about the HTA, funding and innovation payment landscape for cardiovascular devices in Europe.

MTRC has developed three reports on the key market access topics, including innovation funding, health technology assessment and funding frameworks for medical devices. These reports help to understand the relevance of these frameworks to certain types of medical technologies, including cardiovascular technologies. This post provides some key facts about the HTA, funding and innovation payment landscape for cardiovascular devices in Europe.

In Sweden, the Centre for Assessment of Medical Technology (CAMTÖ) leads the development of HTA cooperation in the healthcare region Uppsala-Örebro. In August 2019, CAMTÖ started its work on the assessment of sclerotherapy in Achilles tendinopathy. After the completion of the evaluation process, the report would be published at the web-site of Örebro County Council.

In August 2019, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has released a single technology assessment report for molecular profiling panel – Prosigna aimed to investigate its prognostic accuracy, clinical and cost-effectiveness in patients with breast cancer. It was outlined that it is uncertain to what extent Prosigna contributes prognostic information that turns into better clinical results; conclusions about the cost-effectiveness of Prosigna cannot be made due to the lack of existing information.

Within the framework of the Federal HTA program, the benefits currently paid under the compulsory health insurance are being reevaluated. On the 4th of September, 2019, the health technology assessment of arthroscopy of the knee, developed by the Swiss Medical Board on behalf of the Federal Ofice for Public Health, has been published.

In August 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published one new MedTech innovation briefings for vacuum therapy for colorectal anastomotic leakage and two new interventional procedure guidance for endovascular insertion of an intrasaccular wire-mesh blood-flow disruption device for intracranial aneurysms and the Papillon technique for locally advanced rectal cancer.

In mid-August 2019, the network of European HTA agencies, EUnetHTA, announced the final plan of the project OTCA22 “Clinical utility of Point-of-care Tests (POCT) D-Dimer and Troponin.”

The Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has presented its second final report on the benefit assessment of vacuum therapy in wounds healing. The previous final report for vacuum therapy in the wounds healing by secondary intention was published by IQWiG in late March 2019.