Mechanical ventilation

In February 2024, the Danish Health Technology Council (Behandlingsrådet) completed three assessments. The Council made positive recommendations regarding home non-invasive ventilation for patients with COPD and non-surgical management for the treatment of distal radius fractures in patients over 65 years. Guided internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of adults with mild or moderate depression was not recommended.

On December 04, 2023, the Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency initiated its work on a few more health economic assessments of Sedaconda-ACD by Sedana Medical, a disposable product for administering anesthetic gases for patients treated on a ventilator and an alternative to intravenous anesthetics as well as robotic systems for spine surgery, including ExcelsiusGPS by Globus Medical, Mazor X Stealth by Medtronic, Cirq by Brainlab. The assessments are planned to be accomplished during 2024.

In October 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new Interventional Procedure Guidance (YAG laser vitreolysis for symptomatic vitreous floaters, transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the supraorbital nerve for treating and preventing migraine), one Medical Technologies Guidance (Magtrace and Sentimag system for locating sentinel lymph nodes for breast cancer) and three new Medtech Innovation Briefings (O2matic PRO 100, Daylight, Signatera). Also, one new clinical guideline was published on osteoarthritis.

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 late October 2020, the BfArM (Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices) has published the final version of the OPS 2021 (Operation and Procedure Keys) system. The OPS, together with the ICD-10-GM (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision, German Modification), forms the basis for the reimbursement systems in outpatient and inpatient care.

The report presents a summary of the reimbursement situation for mechanical ventilation in Europe. The following clinical indications are considered: acute community-acquired viral pneumonia complicated with acute respiratory failure; severe sepsis due to acute community-acquired viral pneumonia with multiorgan failure (cardiac, respiratory and renal); acute hemorrhagic stroke with the development of com. The analysis covers procedure coding, payment mechanism, reimbursement tariffs and policy restrictions in 11 EU countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. It is also possible to add analysis in the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Romania, Russia and Turkey.