UK

Starting April 1, 2019, NHS England opens in a new window, and NHS Improvement comes together to act as a single organization.

The 2019/20 national tariff payment system has been published and took on the 1st of April 2019. There have been no substantial changes to the proposed tariff consulted on during January and February 2019. Under the published tariff, blended payment will be the default payment approach for emergency care services.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) group develop and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. New diagnostic codes concern circulating tumor DNA profile for the different type of cancers, myriad Prolaris test, PET Scan with florbetapir, etc. and a procedure code for robotic-assisted radical hysterectomy and lymphadenectomy. The codes are introduced with a recommended adoption date being the 1st of May 2019. The documents also contain a list of textual changes in codes and an updated list of unacceptable combinations of codes.

The Academic Health Science Networks in partnership with the Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI) launched a report of the MedTech landscape aimed at accelerating the entry, adoption, and spread of innovations for the benefit of patients and commercial success.

The 13 innovations joining the NHS Innovation Accelerator were announced on March 5, 2019, as part of an event to launch the fourth year of this award-winning national accelerator.

The NHS Long Term Plan announced, on March 7, 2019, that the NHS will ensure that patients with type 1 diabetes will benefit from life changing flash glucose monitors from April 2019. This will end the variation patients in some parts England are facing. The new guidance sets out the criteria for flash glucose monitoring and the maximum amounts CCGs will be reimbursed for the ongoing costs of the flash glucose sensors.

In early 2019, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed to support HTA in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Memorandum of understanding establishes a collaborative approach to the identification and assessment of new health technologies between Health Information and Quality Authority Ireland, Health Technology Assesment Group Ireland, Health Technology Wales, and the Scottish Health Technology Group. These bodies assess and give guidance on health technologies within their national healthcare systems.

In March 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new interventional procedure guidance (for Barnett Continent Intestinal Reservoir (modified continent ileostomy) to restore continence after colon and rectum removal and high-intensity focused ultrasound for symptomatic benign thyroid nodules), and three new MedTech innovation briefings (for system for ruling out coronary artery disease in people with symptoms of stable coronary artery disease, medical imaging software tool for kidney stone evaluation, incision management system for closed surgical incisions).

NHS Digital is launching a pilot to build the process that will enable partner services to connect to NHS login, providing a single way for patients in England to verify their identity and then use the login to access digital health and care services. The five selected partners represent the range of organizations who will connect with NHS login - from large, established organizations to new players in the market. The service will begin its activities in April 2019.

New material code for voice prosthesis was added to the List of reimbursable devices of the Belgian National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (INAMI-RIZIV) in March 2019.

In January 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published six new interventional procedure guidance, three medical technologies guidance, and three new MedTech innovation briefings for liver function capacity test, a functional electrical stimulation (FES) integrated cycling system used to start muscle contraction to stimulate trunk and limb muscles in people with spinal cord injury, laser shoe attachment used as a walking aid and is designed to help prevent freezing of gait in people with Parkinson's disease.

The NHS Long Term Plan, released on 7th of January 2019, will save almost half a million more lives with practical action on significant killer conditions and investment in world-class, cutting edge treatments including genomic tests for every child with cancer. Local NHS allocated £570 billion to fund the NHS Long Term Plan.