UK

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. New procedure codes concern repair of femoral hernia requiring removal of previously inserted mesh, transurethral non-ablative radiofrequency of bladder, minimally invasive mitral valve repair, two-stage revision of total hip replacement for infection and others. The codes are introduced with a recommended adoption date being the 1st of May 2020. The document also contains a list of textual changes in codes, unacceptable combinations, and inactivated codes. There were no changes to the CCSD Schedule of Diagnostic Tests.

Changes of structure in Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England were announced: in April 2020, 14 NHS England (Region, Local Offices) will be replaced by 42 sustainability and transformation partnerships as the Higher Level Health Authority in the organization reference data. The number of CCGs would also be changed (135 CCGs would leave).

Axonics sacral neuromodulation would be an option for people with symptoms of the overactive bladder who have not responded to conservative treatments or drug therapy. The Axonics could save the NHS around £6,200 per patient if the device lasts more than six years. Consultations are open to the stakeholders until March 13, 2020.

NICE published a draft Diagnostic guideline on the Reveal LINQ monitor. The monitor can be recommended for routine adoption under certain clinical criteria. The expected publication date of the final guideline is 27 May 2020.

In January 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published only three new interventional procedure guidance (for reducing the risk of transmission of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) from surgical instruments used for interventional procedures on high-risk tissues, fetoscopic and open prenatal repair for open neural tube defects in the fetus).

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. New procedure codes concern removal of pectus bar, open surgical correction of pectus deformity of the chest wall, intradermal injection into the scalp, nerve and neurolytic root block with or without image guidance, facet joint injection with or without image guidance and diagnostic code for gustatory testing. The codes are introduced with a recommended adoption date being the 1st of May 2020. The documents also contain a list of textual changes in codes, unacceptable combinations, and inactivated codes.

The NHS in England is providing a new form of DNA test capable of quickly diagnosing rare diseases for critically ill babies and children, as part of its Long Term Plan to use world-leading technologies to improve care for the sickest infants.

In December 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published one new interventional procedure guidance (for balloon dilation for chronic eustachian tube dysfunction), one new medical technologies guidance (for gammaCore for cluster headache), and five new MedTech innovation briefings (for Optowire for measuring fractional flow reserve, eXroid for internal hemorrhoids, and others).

In November 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new diagnostics guidance (for point-of-care creatinine devices and rapid tests for group A streptococcal infections), one new interventional procedure guidance (for irreversible electroporation for primary liver cancer) and two new MedTech innovation briefings (for Leukomed Sorbact for preventing surgical site infection and AmnioSense for unexplained vaginal wetness in pregnancy).

On October 29, 2019, the NHS England updated the clinical commissioning work programs including clinical commissioning policy work program, specialized commissioning service specification work program, commissioning through evaluation work programs.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. New procedure codes concern injection eustachian tuboplasty, extracorporeal shockwave therapy for carpal tunnel syndrome, robotic-assisted laparoscopic excision of recto-vaginal endometriosis, and diagnostic codes for alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone, NK cell inhibition panel, XR whole spine, and others. The codes are introduced with a recommended adoption date being the 1st of February 2020. The documents also contain a list of textual changes in codes, unacceptable combinations, and inactivated codes.

In October 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published one new interventional procedure guidance (for midcarpal hemiarthroplasty for wrist arthritis) and two new MedTech innovation briefings (for superDimension Navigation System to help diagnostic sampling of peripheral lung lesions and MR-proADM test for use with clinical deterioration scores in cases of suspected infection).