Procedures on spine

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 13, 2023, the Swedish Medical Technologies Product (MTP) Council recommended that all regions delay the introduction of robotic systems for knee, hip, and spine surgery until they have been evaluated as part of the Orderly introduction framework. For now, MTP Council recommends robotic systems in these indications only to be used in the context of research.

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 11957 of June 07, 2023, Tuscany Regional Healthcare has published assessments of two medical devices in the cardiovascular and spine areas.

On March 2, 2023, the decision of the National Union of Health Insurance Funds relating to the update of the CCAM Nomenclature of procedure codes was published in the Official Journal of the French Republic. Changes include registration of new procedure codes, modification and removal of some existing codes. Newly introduced codes concern cardiovascular procedures, interventional radiology, orthopedics, peripheral vascular procedures, and others.

In June 2022, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published three new Interventional Procedure Guidance (vertebral body tethering for idiopathic scoliosis, nerve graft for corneal denervation, and synthetic cartilage implant insertion for first metatarsophalangeal joint osteoarthritis). Also, four new clinical guidelines were published.

On February 15, 2022, the preliminary version of the DRG manual for 2022 was published in France. Introduced changes (new DRGs, change of DRG logic) concern surgical procedures on the breast, interventions for malignant skin tumors, interventions of excision and grafting on the skin and subcutaneous tissue, spondyloplasties.

In late January 2022, 19 new procedure codes were introduced by the Code Service of the Finnish National Health and Wellbeing Institution (THL). The introduced codes are dedicated to diagnostic imaging and image-guided interventions.

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.

The new version of the classification of procedure codes (CCAM v.68) applicable from 09/12/2021 was published in France. Multiple changes were introduced, including registration of 22 new procedure codes, changes of notes and tariffs for procedure codes, removal of two codes, and other changes. New codes are related to procedures on the gastrointestinal tract, surgical procedures, peripheral vascular procedures, etc.

In late September 2021, the Austrian version of the DRG system (LKF) 2022 model with the relevant supplementary documents was published in Austria. The document "Changes and innovations in the 2022 LKF model" (Änderungen und Neuerungen in den LKF-Modellen 2022) summarizes the most significant changes and innovations in the LKF model for inpatient and outpatient care. The newly added procedure codes concern mainly the cardiovascular, E-Health, and gastrointestinal area.

The HTA body of the Tuscany Regional Healthcare issues two types of documents: HTA forms and motivational forms. With a regional decree 14763 of August 25, 2021, Tuscany Regional Healthcare has published assessments of thirteen medical devices of various therapeutic areas, including devices belonging to the obstetrics and gynecology field, as well as gastroenterology, urology, cardiovascular, endoscopy, spine, peripheral vascular, and other fields of care.

In mid-June 2021, the document "Changes and innovations in the 2022 LKF model" (Änderungen und Neuerungen in den LKF-Modellen 2022) was published. The document summarizes the most significant changes and innovations in the LKF model for inpatient and outpatient care. The newly added procedure codes concern mainly the cardiovascular, e-Health, and gastrointestinal area.