Health technology assessment

In April 2018, a national HTA program has been launched in order to re-evaluate benefits presently covered by the mandatory health insurance.

In late June 2018, the Andalusian Agency for Evaluation of Health Technologies, AETSA, has released a report on the efficacy and safety leadless pacemaker.

At the beginning of June 2018, the Health Technology Evaluation Service of the Basque County, OSTEBA, has published an assessment of effectiveness, safety and indications of radiological bone suppression technology for the detection of lung cancer.

In the first half of June, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published one new interventional procedure guidance for Intranasal phototherapy for allergic rhinitis and one new medtech innovation briefing for lung volume analysis in emphysema.

In the second half of May, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new interventional procedure guidance for low-level laser therapy for preventing or treating oral mucositis caused by radiotherapy or chemotherapy and endoscopic bipolar radiofrequency ablation for treating biliary obstruction caused by cancer.

Two mini-method assessments regarding brachytherapy for esophageal cancer and targeted gene deep-sequencing panels were initiated by Oslo University Hospital in May of 2018. All finalized mini-method assessments are published in the National Database for Mini-HTA.

Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) conducted a full health technology assessment (HTA) of Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) using 177Luthetium (177Lu-PRRT) on the request from payers (“New methods” framework for introduction of innovations in Norway).

The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute (LBI-HTA), the Austrian HTA body, develops health technology assessments of medical technologies to support decision-making about coverage of these methods in Austrian public reimbursement system. MTRC summarized the list of reports to be published by LBI-HTA until the end of 2018.

At the beginning of June 2018, the Andalusian agency for health technology evaluation, AETSA, has published a meta-analysis on digital tomosynthesis in breast cancer.

In late May 2018, the Health Technology Evaluation Service of the Basque County, OSTEBA, has published an assessment where they compared the clinical utility (safety, morbidity and effectiveness) of radiofrequency tonsil reduction with that of traditional tonsillectomy and other surgical options for enlarged tonsils.

On the 30th of May of 2018, Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has published a report regarding effectiveness of shunt treatment for persons with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus, which was earlier commissioned to NIPH by My treatment choices platform with the purpose to find and summarize key findings from systematic reviews about the effects of shunts in the treatment of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus.

On 11th May, the Italian Ministry of Health announced from its website that five new Med Tech-related HTA documents are available for public consultation. See the details in the MTRC post.