Nephrology and Urology

On November 16, 2023, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) informed that Annex 2 of the updated German Uniform Evaluation Standard (EBM) catalog, which is expected to be published on January 1, 2024, will be enriched with an additional 33 interventional procedures.

In October 2023, the annual update of the Swedish procedure coding system (Classification of Health Care Measures, KVÅ) was released to come into force on January 1, 2024. A total of 70 new surgical procedure codes and 17 new medical procedure codes were introduced concerning endoscopy, ENT, men’s health, nephrology and urology, peripheral vascular, and spine.

On September 28, 2023, the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) published the second release of the DRG package for 2024 (RZ24b). One new procedure code, two new supplementary payments, and three new DRGs will be implemented across in-vitro diagnostics, urology, and cardiovascular technology groups.

In early August 2023, the Polish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariff System (AOTMiT) announced the start of the evaluation of several technologies in men’s health, neuromodulation and in-vitro diagnostics fields.

In June 2023, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published five new Interventional Procedure Guidance (intraoperative electron beam radiotherapy, minimally invasive fusionless posterior-approach surgery to correct idiopathic scoliosis, endoscopic ultrasound-guided gallbladder drainage, radiofrequency denervation for osteoarthritic knee pain, and Botulinum toxin type A injections into the urethral sphincter), two new Diagnostic Guidance (transperineal biopsy for prostate cancer, and FibroScan for liver fibrosis and cirrhosis), and two Medtech Innovation Briefings (MiraQ cardiac TTFM, Proov Confirm; their development started before April 2023). Also, four clinical guidelines were updated.

On June 7, 2023, the Innovation Committee at the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) published the overview of thirty-five newly funded healthcare research projects. These projects relate to the two funding announcements of June 27, 2022 (changed on September 20, 2022).

In May 2023, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published one new Interventional Procedure Guidance (intramuscular diaphragm stimulation for ventilator-dependent chronic respiratory failure from high spinal cord injuries), two new Diagnostic Guidance (MRI fusion biopsy systems for diagnosing prostate cancer, automated ankle-brachial pressure index measurement devices to detect peripheral arterial disease), and three new Health Technology Evaluations (Digitally enabled therapies for adults with anxiety disorders / with depression, and point-of-care tests for urinary tract infections). Also, four clinical guidelines were updated.

The French National Authority for Health (HAS) released new recommendations about add-on reimbursement of medical devices and medical aids from the meetings of the National Commission for Evaluation of Medical Devices and Health Technologies (CNEDiMTS) in April 2023. Twenty-three recommendations were published in relation to the registration, modification of registration conditions, and renewal of registration for devices in the List of reimbursable products and services (LPPR). Opinions concern cardiovascular, orthopedic, nephrology and urology, and surgical devices, as well as medical aids.

On January 30, 2023, the Institute for the Hospital Remuneration System (InEK) published the list of the requests for innovation funding (NUB) that were submitted by the hospitals in 2022. The medical technologies belonging to the cardiovascular, eHealth, gastrointestinal, neuromodulation, neurovascular, peripheral vascular, orthopedic, and other technology groups obtained positive status 1.

In December 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published one new Medical Technologies Guidance (Memokath 051 Ureter stent for ureteric obstruction) and one MedTech Innovation Briefing (PromarkerD). Also, two new clinical guidelines were published, and one was updated.

On December 1, 2022, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health published the changes that will occur to the Services Ordinance (KLV/OPre), which determines coverage of medical services in Switzerland. The updates will enter into force on January 1, 2023, and they relate to the list of explicitly evaluated services (Annex 1 of KLV/OPre), outpatient-before-hospital services (Annex 1a), List of Tools and Appliances(Annex 2), and List of Analyses (Annex 3).

The French National Authority for Health released new recommendations about add-on reimbursement of medical devices from the meetings of the National Commission for Evaluation of Medical Devices and Health Technologies in November 2022. Twenty recommendations were published in relation to the registration, modification of registration conditions, and renewal of registration for devices in the List of reimbursable products and services. Opinions concern cardiovascular, neurovascular and neuromodulation, endocrine, ENT, endoscopic and dermatological devices, as well as devices for men’s health and medical aids.