Sweden

On May 6, 2024, the Swedish Medical Technologies Product (MTP) Council commissioned the Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (TLV) to perform a health economic evaluation of MR-guided focused ultrasound (Exablate Neuro) for the treatment of patients with essential tremor and Parkinson's disease. This evaluation is a part of the Orderly introduction framework, a staged process aimed at managing the national introduction of novel technologies. Based on the TLV assessment, the MTP Council will make recommendations to regions regarding the implementation of the technology and the criteria for use.

On March 26, 2024, the Swedish Medical Technologies Product (MTP) Council recommended three spinal cord stimulation devices (Intellis, Proclaim, and WaveWriter) for patients with neuropathic pain and insufficient effect of conventional treatment. Devices have been evaluated as part of the Orderly introduction framework.

In February 2024, the Skåne University Hospital is working on several HTAs, including evaluations in the cardiovascular, e-health, endocrine, men’s health, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics fields.

On December 04, 2023, the Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency initiated its work on a few more health economic assessments of Sedaconda-ACD by Sedana Medical, a disposable product for administering anesthetic gases for patients treated on a ventilator and an alternative to intravenous anesthetics as well as robotic systems for spine surgery, including ExcelsiusGPS by Globus Medical, Mazor X Stealth by Medtronic, Cirq by Brainlab. The assessments are planned to be accomplished during 2024.

On November 07, 2023, the Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (TLV) accomplished its work on health economic assessments of Intellis and WaveWriter Alpha – spinal cord stimulation systems used for the treatment of long-term, intractable pain. Overall, TLV assesses that the results uncertainty level is high.

On November 7, 2023, the annual update of the Swedish NordDRG system was published to come into force on January 1, 2024. A total of 16 new DRGs will be implemented concerning ENT, radiology, and primary care.

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.

In October 2023, the Centre for Assessment of Medical Technology in Örebro is working on several HTAs, including evaluations in e-health, ICU/OR, men’s health, orthopedic fields, and other fields.

In September 2023, the Skåne University Hospital is working on several HTAs, including evaluations in the cardiovascular, diagnostic imaging, men’s health, neurology and neurosurgery fields

On August 30, 2023, the National Board of Health and Welfare introduced national screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in newborns. The screening test will identify children with homozygous deletion in the SMN1 gene and 1–3 copies of the SMN2 gene. As a result, those affected by the most severe forms of SMA can receive treatment before the onset of symptoms.

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.

In April 2023, Swedish Medical Technologies Product (MTP) Council recommended that Magtrace and Sentimag be used for locating sentinel lymph nodes in breast cancer. The products were evaluated within the Orderly introduction framework, in which all Swedish regions collaborate to manage the national introduction of innovative medical technologies.