On 2 March 2026, NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced the next phase in the transfer of national commissioning functions, subject to parliamentary approval. From April 2027, integrated care boards (ICBs) will assume responsibility for a broader set of services, including selected specialised services (in addition to those already delegated), most components of screening programs, and public health functions. Following the expected abolition of NHS England in 2027, DHSC will take on the remaining national commissioning responsibilities, including highly specialised services and High Cost devices, as well as maintaining national service specifications and clinical commissioning policies.

On March 6, 2026, the German Bundestag adopted amendments to the hospital reform. The core objectives of the reform remain unchanged: consolidating services, increasing specialization, and thereby improving the quality of healthcare delivery. The adjustments primarily aim to ensure the practical implementation of the measures, with a particular focus on maintaining inpatient care, especially standard and emergency care, in rural areas.

MTRC shares the most relevant and impactful publications in the field of market access and HEOR for medical technologies in Europe through its Health Economic Publications Digest. In a recent publication, Xie et al. examined how diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) studies can better support economic modelling of new diagnostic tests.

In January 2026, the Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE) published one Health Technology Assessment report on blood-based biomarkers in mild traumatic brain injury and two Health Service Research (HSR) reports addressing chronic pain management and the shift from inpatient to day and ambulatory care.

MTRC is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Steffen Uffenorde as Director of Market Access & HEOR. He brings senior leadership experience in health economics, reimbursement strategy, and market access across the medical technology sector. Mr. Uffenorde has led health economics and market access initiatives at Boston Scientific, Abbott, BD, and St. Jude Medical, supporting the reimbursement and adoption of cardiovascular and other technologies across EMEA healthcare systems.

In February 2026, Health Technology Wales (HTW) accomplished one full appraisal on capsule sponge devices for the detection of Barrett’s esophagus and early-stage esophageal cancer. Additionally, two Med Tech-related Topic Exploration Reports were published in the urology and gynecology fields.

In February 2026, the Danish Healthcare Quality Institute (DHQI) released a document outlining the criteria for “triaging” clinical guideline recommendations to health economic analysis. The criteria aim to identify recommendations with potentially significant clinical and resource implications that should undergo health economic evaluation and be considered by the DHQI Council for possible nationwide implementation.

MTRC shares the most relevant and impactful publications in the field of market access and HEOR for medical technologies in Europe through its EU HTA Publications Digest. In a recent publication, D'Oca et al. analyzed current practices in the PICO scoping process used to define the scope of Joint Clinical Assessments under the EU HTA Regulation.

Our goal at MTRC is to inform the decision-making of our clients and to support their market access activities. Below is a snapshot of our planned activities for the next two weeks. This can help our existing and prospective clients understand the potential scope of our support better. From the week of March 09th, we plan to work on 15 projects. Review the complete list of planned activities in this post.

In February 2026, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in England released five Med Tech-related assessments in its HTA Journal, which concerned hysteroscopic removal of endometrial polyps and submucosal fibroids, magnetic resonance enterography for Crohn's disease, oxygen saturation in critically ill children, paravertebral and thoracic epidural blockade for post-thoracotomy pain and Artificial Intelligence technologies for assessing skin lesions.

MTRC shares the most relevant and impactful publications in the field of market access and HEOR for medical technologies in Europe through its Publications Digest. In a recent publication, Tsiasiotis et al. explored stakeholder perspectives on the development of a harmonized health technology assessment (HTA) framework for digital health technologies (DHTs) in Europe within the Horizon Europe funded EDiHTA project.

On February 11, 2026, the Federal Ministry of Health (BGM) presented the further development of the Digitalization Strategy for Health and Nursing Care. The objectives are to integrate digital innovations more strongly into routine care, to systematically generate and use high-quality health data, and to enhance digital care coordination.