Reimbursement

In April 2018, the French National Authority for Health (HAS) proposed an updated nomenclature in LPPR for foot orthosis and heel cup.

The French National Authority for Health (HAS) published new set of decisions about add-on reimbursement for medical devices in June. They concern orthopedic devices and endobronchial valve.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development Group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. In June, new codes for laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy, robotic assisted total knee replacement, abdominal (mesenteric) and limb angiogram were added to the CCSD Schedule.

The French National Authority for Health (HAS) published new set of decisions about add-on reimbursement for medical devices in May. They concern pacemakers, orthopedic devices, radiofrequency ablation system, vagus nerve stimulator and some other devices.

At the beginning of June 2018, the Federal Department of Home Affairs published an update of the Services Ordinance (Ordinanza sulle prestazioni, OPre). This update concerns many different fields, including the list of laboratory tests.

On 8th of June 2018, the company in charge of the development of the DRG system in Switzerland, SwissDRG SA, has announced the catalogue version of Swiss DRG 8.0/2019.

The French National Authority for Health (HAS) published new set of decisions about add-on reimbursement for medical devices in April. They concern orthopedic prostheses, neurostimulators and some other devices.

On 18th of June, 2018, the Federal Department of Home Affairs issued the latest update of the list of medical aids and equipment. This update will come into force on 1st of January, 2019. However, this list will be updated a few times in 2018.

Payment-for-performance schemes in health care remain controversial as there is no solid evidence that they improve quality of care. A new study, published in Health Policy by Herbst et al, did not show any positive long-term effects of the implementation of P4P on quality of care. The program was implemented within the integrated contract framework between one ophthalmological clinic and one statutory health insurance company in Germany.

MedTech Europe has published a paper with reflections on how to facilitate the dialogue between industry and funding and reimbursement decision makers, in order to create an innovation-friendly environment for healthcare in Europe. MTRC report on innovative payment schemes is cited in the paper.

A change in the Services Order (Ordinanza sulle Prestazioni, OPre), regarding surgery in general, will come into force on January 1st, 2019. This change makes it possible to reimburse a number of surgeries in hospital settings in exceptional circumstances because in general, these procedures should be performed in out-patient settings.

MTRC has developed reimbursement overviews for 14 EU countries. Overviews cover stakeholders, money flow, payment model, DRG system, innovation funding, coverage with evidence development, the role of health technology assessment, funding frameworks and reimbursement pathways. Reports are delivered in PowerPoint. Video explanations are available as well.