Radiotherapy

In August 2023, the Evaluation and Planning Service of the Canary Islands Health Service (SESCS) is working on several HTAs, including evaluations in the cardiovascular, endocrine, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, surgical procedures, and some other 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.

In June 2023, NHS England published two new specialized service specifications for pediatric photon radiotherapy and gender incongruence in children and young people. These documents define national standards for the provision of specialized services, including aims, outcomes, model of provision, patient pathway, inclusion criteria, and requirements for the facilities and staff.

In June 2023, the Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) working group, which develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclatures for private payers in England, published Bulletins 190 and 086 with changes to be implemented no later than August 4, 2023. Fourteen new procedure codes (concerning cardiovascular, diagnostic imaging, endocrine, endoscopy, gastrointestinal, orthopedic and spine, peripheral vascular, robotic surgery, men's health, and radiotherapy fields) and six new diagnostic codes were introduced.

In March 2023, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new Interventional Procedure Guidance (percutaneous transluminal renal sympathetic denervation for resistant hypertension, endoluminal gastroplication for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease), three new Health Technology Evaluations via piloted early value assessment approach (CaRi-Heart for predicting cardiac risk in suspected coronary artery disease, ProKnow cloud-based system for radiotherapy data storage, and Genedrive MT-RNR1 ID Kit for detecting a genetic variant), and two new MedTech Innovation Briefings (QBTest and BPMpathway). No new clinical guidelines were published.

In January-February 2023, Health Technology Wales published sixteen Medtech-related Topic Exploration Reports (TER), including stereotactic radiosurgery, percutaneous implantation of pulmonary artery pressure sensors, ambulatory patch ECG devices, and others; however, Health Technology Wales will not proceed with full appraisals on these topics. No Guidance was released for Medtech in January-February 2023.

In February 2023, the Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) working group, which develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclatures for private payers in England, published Bulletins 188 and 084 with changes to be implemented no later than March 23, 2023. Five new procedure codes (concerning interventional radiology, robotic surgery, and radiotherapy) and one new diagnostic code were introduced.

In February 2023, it was announced that the Basque Office for Health Technology Assessment (OSTEBA) initiated several HTAs, including evaluations in the e-health, radiology, nephrology and urology, cardiovascular, IVD, obstetrics and gynecology, diagnostic imaging, radiotherapy, neurovascular, ENT, interventional radiology, surgical procedures, and some other fields.

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.

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 August 2022. One recommendation was published in relation to the registration for devices in the List of reimbursable products and services (LPPR List). The opinion concerns men’s health area.

In the second quarter of 2022, Health Technology Wales (HTW) published four MedTech-related guidance (extreme hypofractionated radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer, video laryngoscopes for use in pre-hospital care, electronic blood management systems, and stereotactic ablative radiotherapy for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma). A total of 12 MedTech-related Topic Exploration Reports (TERs) were released in Q2. Based on the TERs conclusions, HTW decided to proceed with a full appraisal on three topics – photobiomodulation, topical oxygen therapy (NATROX) in chronic wounds, and video feedback interventions.

On May 31, 2022, Regional Cancer Centers collaboration (RCC) updated the national care program for breast cancer. New and updated recommendations concerned genetic testing, molecular diagnostic, de-escalation of surgical treatment for certain patient groups, radiotherapy regimens, and pharmacotherapy. A new chapter was added on breast cancer in men.