Nephrology and Urology

In July 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in England released seven Med Tech-related assessments in its HTA Journal, which concerned nephrology and urology, pulmonology, gynecology, in-vitro diagnostics and e-Health fields.

In July 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published one new Interventional Procedures Guidance on pulsed-field ablation in atrial fibrillation, one new Early Value Assessment on digital technologies in anxiety and depression, and two new Late Stage Assessments (One-piece closed bags for colostomies, intermittent urethral catheters for chronic incomplete bladder emptying).

On July 15, 2025, the Austrian Institute for HTA (AIHTA) published four new HTAs (decision support documents) and two updates to previous decision support documents that provide recommendations regarding possible inclusion of new procedures in the reimbursement catalog of individual medical services (MEL). The assessments concerned cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, interventional radiology, men's health, urology, and orthopedics fields.

In January 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in England released two Med Tech-related assessments in its HTA Journal, which concerned a clinical decision support tool for lower urinary tract symptom in men and multi-cancer early detection tests for general population screening. 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 NICE guidance.

In January 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new Interventional Procedures Guidance (Transperineal laser ablation for lower urinary tract symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, electrically stimulated intravesical therapy for interstitial cystitis or overactive bladder) and one new Early Value Assessment (Artificial intelligence technologies to help detect fractures on X-rays in urgent care). Furthermore, one new clinical guideline was published, and one was updated.

On December 12, 2024, the entity managing the DRG system in Switzerland, SwissDRG, published the final (billing) version of the 2025 DRG system. In total, 23 new DRGs related to cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, nephrology and urology, neurology and neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, pulmonary and airways, and some other areas were introduced. Also, 17 new add-on reimbursement categories were implemented.

In October 2024, the annual update of the Swedish procedure coding system (Classification of Health Care Measures, KVÅ) was released to come into force on January 1, 2025. A total of 55 new surgical procedure codes and 43 new medical procedure codes were introduced concerning diagnostic imaging, endoscopy, ENT, men’s health, nephrology and urology, gynecology, orthopedics, pulmonology, and some other areas.

On October 10, 2024, the Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) working group, which develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclatures for private payers in England, published Bulletins 198 and 094 with changes to be implemented no later than December 5, 2024. Fifty-two new procedure codes related to ENT, gastrointestinal, men’s health, urology, neurology and neurosurgery, gynecology, orthopedics, robotic surgery, and surgical procedures areas, and two new diagnostic codes were introduced.

In July 2024, the Dutch Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) awarded thirteen projects under the 2025 round of the Efficiency Research program, including one project on e-health, one project on extracorporeal treatments, one project in orthopedics, one project in neurology, one project in urology, two projects in obstetrics and gynecology, one project in radiotherapy and one project in the cardiovascular area.

On August 7, 2024, the National Agency for Regional Health Services (AGENAS) announced a call for applications for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) for robotic surgery systems with intended use in the following surgical specialties: general surgery, gynecology and obstetrics, and urology, as part of the 2023-2025 National Health Technology Assessment Program for Medical Devices.

The HTA body of the Tuscany Regional Healthcare issues three types of documents: full HTA reports, rapid HTA reports, and motivational forms. With regional decree 6700 of March 27, 2024, Tuscany Regional Healthcare published three new assessments and one re-assessment of medical devices in the cardiovascular, men’s health, nephrology and urology, and surgical procedures areas.

In March 2024, the Health Sciences Institute in Aragon (IACS) is working on several HTAs, including evaluations in diagnostic imaging, IVD, as well as clinical guidelines in endocrine, orthopedics, nephrology and urology, and some other fields.