Vertebroplasty

In December 2023, the Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) working group, which develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclatures for private payers in England, published Bulletins with changes to be implemented no later than February 12, 2024. Five new procedure codes (concerning endoscopy, gastrointestinal, and spine) and one new in-vitro diagnostic code were introduced.

In April 2023, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published seven new Interventional Procedure Guidance (concerned Daytime intraoral neuromuscular electrical tongue stimulation, endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage, maximal cytoreductive surgery in ovarian cancer, percutaneous thoracic duct embolization, radiofrequency ablation for spinal metastases, high-intensity focused ultrasound for prostate cancer), one new Medical Technologies Guidance (AposHealth for knee osteoarthritis), and one Medtech Innovation Briefing (Fasciotens for abdominal wall closure). Also, three clinical guidelines were updated.

OPCS-4 is the clinical coding classification of interventions and procedures undertaken within the NHS in England. It is updated every three years, reflecting current clinical practice to be used for statistical purposes and reimbursement. On April 1, 2023, a new version (OPCS-4.10) came into force. A total of 236 new four-character codes were introduced in multiple areas, including cardiovascular, endoscopy, ENT, gastrointestinal, urology, neurology, gynecology, breast reconstruction, and others.

The report presents a summary of reimbursement situation for percutaneous vertebroplasty. The following indications are considered: osteoporosis with pathological fracture, secondary malignant neoplasm of spine (breast cancer). The analysis covers procedure coding, payment mechanism, reimbursement tariffs and policy restrictions in 11 EU countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.