Orthopedic devices

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 February 2022. More than 25 recommendations were published in relation to the registration, modification of registration conditions, and renewal of registration of devices in the List of reimbursable products and services (LPPR). Opinions concern cardiovascular and peripheral vascular, orthopedic, neurovascular, and neuromodulation devices, as well as breast implants and medical aids. Except for this, CNEDiMTS published two negative opinions concerning transitional coverage of devices.

In February 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new Interventional Procedure Guidance (stereotactic radiosurgery for trigeminal neuralgia, and microwave ablation for primary or metastatic cancer in the lung), two new Diagnostic Guidance (EarlyCDT Lung for assessing the risk of lung cancer in solid lung nodules, PredictSURE IBD and IBDX to guide treatment of Crohn's disease), and four new Medtech Innovation Briefings (Insides System for managing intestinal failure, d-Nav insulin management app for type 2 diabetes, GaitSmart for personalized exercise rehabilitation, AposHealth for knee osteoarthritis)

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 December 2021. More than 15 recommendations were published in relation to the registration, modification of registration conditions, renewal of registration of devices in the List of reimbursable products and services (LPPR). Opinions concern cardiovascular, orthopedic, ENT devices, as well as medical aids. Except for this, CNEDiMTS published an opinion about transitional coverage (a newly established pathway for reimbursement) for a cardiovascular device.

In mid-December 2021, the Danish Health Data Agency (Sundhedsstyrelsen) published the Health Care Classification System (Sundheds-væsenets Klassifikations System, SKS). The most significant changes include: 41 new diagnosis codes and 21 procedure codes were added. The newly added procedure codes concern mainly spine area and orthopedic procedures.

In late November 2021, the INeK (Institute for the Hospital Remuneration System) has published the DRG catalog (Fallpauschalen-Katalog) with the list of DRGs and add-on reimbursement categories (ZEs) for 2022. Seven new DRGs and seventeen ZE categories were added to the catalog in 2022.

In early October 2021, three more health apps were introduced in the Directory of digital health applications (DiGAs) at the Federal Office for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) and thus became reimbursable. These apps can be prescribed by physicians and psychotherapists and will be reimbursed by health insurers. In total, 23 health apps are now available at the DiGA Directory.

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 September 2021. In total, 58 recommendations for registration, modification of registration conditions, and removal of devices from the List of reimbursable products and services (LPPR) were published. Opinions concern cardiovascular, orthopedic, peripheral vascular, and other groups of devices, as well as medical aids.

In July 2021, the Austrian Institute for Health Technology Assessment (AIHTA) published six new decision support documents and one update to a previous decision support document. The assessed topics included percutaneous left ventricular assist devices, liposuction for surgical therapy of lipoedema, triphasic biomaterial for augmentation of the osteoporotic femoral neck, endoscopic plication therapy in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), allogenic bone screw Shark Screw® in patients with hallux valgus or scaphoid fractures/pseudarthroses, and surgical interventions for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. The updated decision support document concerned implantable bulking agents for fecal incontinence.

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 June 2021. Recommendations concern cardiovascular and peripheral vascular devices, orthopedic devices, liquid for embolization, and medical aids.

The HTA body of the Tuscany Regional Healthcare issues two types of documents: HTA forms and motivational forms. With a regional decree 554 of January 18, 2021, Tuscany Regional Healthcare has published assessments of eight medical devices of various therapeutic areas, including devices for the treatment of cardiovascular conditions, personal diabetes management system, endoscopic devices, and pedicle screw system.

On January 18, 2021, a new version of the List of Reimbursable Products and Services (LPPR) was published. It contains new devices included in the LPPR list in November-December 2020, as well as other modifications made during this period. Newly-introduced devices belong to the cardiovascular (coronary stents), orthopedic, neuromodulation (deep brain stimulation), peripheral vascular (stent-grafts to treat aortic abdominal aneurysm), and other areas of care.

The French National Authority for Health (HAS) released new decisions about add-on and medical aid reimbursement of many medical devices from the meetings of the National Commission for Evaluation of Medical Devices and Health Technologies (CNEDiMTS) in August 2020. Decisions concern cartilage implant, energy return prosthetic feet, and Yttrium-90 microspheres.