UK

In July 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published one new diagnostics guidance for therapeutic monitoring of TNF-alpha inhibitors in rheumatoid arthritis, two new interventional procedure guidance (for transurethral laser ablation for recurrent non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer and ultrasound-guided high-intensity transcutaneous focused ultrasound for symptomatic uterine fibroids), and one new MedTech innovation briefing for HemaClear for bloodless surgical field during limb surgery.

The overview includes key stakeholders, money flow, the structure of the NHS Scotland, payment model in the system, the role of the Scottish National Tariff, Specialised Clinical Services, commissioning of services outside Scotland (in England and EU), the role of health technology assessment.

NHSX has officially launched in July 2019 bringing together teams from the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England and NHS Improvement, to lead the largest digital health and social care transformation program in the world. With an investment of more than £1 billion pounds a year nationally and a significant additional spend locally, NHSX has been created to give staff and citizens the technology they need.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) group develop and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. New procedure codes concern mastectomy and immediate reconstruction of the breast, coronary intravascular lithotripsy, angioplasty, insertion of a stent, portal vein embolization, and others and diagnostic codes for tests for primary hyperoxaluria panel, myeloid panel, and hereditary angioedema. The codes are introduced with a recommended adoption date being the 1st of August 2019. The documents also contain a list of textual changes in codes and an updated list of unacceptable combinations of codes.

In June 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published six new interventional procedure guidance, one new Medical technologies guidance for Endocuff Vision for assisting visualisation during colonoscopy, and two new MedTech innovation briefings (for Danis stent for acute oesophageal variceal bleeds, and The OPTIMIZER smart system for managing heart failure).

The NHS Innovation and Technology Payment (ITP) 2019/20 program went live on April 1, 2019, and builds on the Innovation and Technology Tariff (ITT) and ITP 2018/19.

In May 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published one new diagnostics guidance for Lead-I ECG devices for detecting symptomatic atrial fibrillation using single time point testing in primary care, three new interventional procedure guidance (for therapeutic hypothermia for acute ischaemic stroke, collagen paste for closing an anal fistula, and percutaneous mitral valve leaflet repair for mitral regurgitation), two new Medical technologies guidance, and three new MedTech innovation briefings (for SEM Scanner for pressure ulcer prevention, Peezy Midstream for urine collection,and DuraGraft for preserving vascular grafts).

In May 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published two new medical technology guidance for negative pressure wound dressings and preventing infections when using needleless connectors, and three new MedTech innovation briefings for pressure ulcer prevention, midstream urine collection and preserving vascular grafts.

In March 2019, NICE published an updated version of its evidence standards framework for digital health technologies (DHTs) that sets out the evidence requirements for different types of DHTs.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) group develop and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. New procedure codes concern cytoreductive surgery for colorectal peritoneal carcinomatosis, cytoreductive surgery for ovarian malignancies, therapeutic sialendoscopy, intra corporeal salivary gland lithotripsy, and others and diagnostic codes for tests for common and rare mutations.

HealthTech Connect, a new online resource provided by NICE to help identify and support new health technologies as they move from inception to adoption in the UK health and care system, was formally launched April 29th, 2019. The system, which is free to use, will help companies to understand what information is needed by decision makers in the UK health and care system, and clarify possible routes to market access.

On the 5th of April, 2019, NHS Improvement has announced the start of implementation of same day emergency care model, which is a provision of same day care for emergency patients who would otherwise be admitted to hospital. Headaches, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolus, pneumonia, cellulitis, and diabetes are available for the treatment in a framework of same day emergency care model.