In-vitro diagnostic tests

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development Group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. In July/August new codes for genetic tests, including 18S rRNA gene and sequencing and ELA2 Cyclic Neutropenia Genetic Screen were added to the CCSD Schedule.

EUnetHTA is a network of HTA bodies within Europe that promote the development of health technology assessment in all European countries by working together. This article will present the plans for the projects that will be published in the near future.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development Group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. In July new codes for aminoglycoside induced deafness testing, Intra-Operative PTH profile, cytokine panels and lymphocyte immunophenotyping, streptococcus pneumoniae by PCR, OCT for cardiology, contract-enhanced ultrasound and faecal immunochemistry test were added to the CCSD Schedule.

At the beginning of July of 2018, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) has commissioned to the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) to provide an assessment of potential harm and benefits of biomarker-based tests for or against adjuvant chemotherapy in primary breast to understand its efficacy in comparison with the previous standard examinations in women who do not require chemotherapy due to a low/intermediate risk of relapse. The final report is expected to be released by G-BA at the end of 2018.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development Group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. In June, new codes for genetic testing,including single gene tests and gene panel tests, next generation sequence and molecular profiling tests were added to the CCSD Schedule.

At the beginning of June 2018, the Federal Department of Home Affairs published an update of the Services Ordinance (Ordinanza sulle prestazioni, OPre). This update concerns many different fields, including the list of laboratory tests.

Two mini-method assessments regarding brachytherapy for esophageal cancer and targeted gene deep-sequencing panels were initiated by Oslo University Hospital in May of 2018. All finalized mini-method assessments are published in the National Database for Mini-HTA.

In spring 2018, the Belgian Healthcare Knowledge Center, KCE, has published a rapid HTA report of MammaPrint® test for personalized management of adjuvant chemotherapy decisions in early breast cancer. The report complements evaluation of the clinical utility of the test from the EUNetHTA’s assessment with health economic evaluation in a Belgian context. Estimates show approximate mean chemotherapy-related costs in Belgium of €11 411 without considering sick leave costs and of €15 044 when the latter are included. KCE came to the conclusion that given the uncertainties surrounding the limited data on the clinical utility of MammaPrint®, no reliable incremental cost-effectiveness ratio could be calculated.

New recommendations for cervical cancer screening will focus on how we ensure that all women have the opportunity to participate in screening and on the use of HPV tests.

The list of the laboratory tests is based on the Services Order (Ordinanza sulle Prestazioni, OPre) of the September 29th, 1995; the latest update is in force since January 1st, 2018. The list contains the services whose costs are covered by the obligatory healthcare insurance (assicurazione obbligatoria delle cure medico-sanitarie, AOMS). With the latest update, there are 1931 tests on this list. See the list of the January 2018 modifications in Italian here. See the full list of current laboratory tests in Excel format (in French, German and Italian) here. Subscribe to our newsletter delivered every second week not to miss important reimbursement information.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development Group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. In April new codes for continuous glucose monitoring, vestibular and quantitative sensory testing were added to the CCSD Schedule.

In mid-April 2018, the Galician HTA body, Avalia-T, has published a rapid evaluation report on screening of fetal trisomies 21, 18 and 13 by non-invasive prenatal testing. The report was done within EUnetHTA framework.