On August 6, 2020, the Ministry of Solidarity and Health published an Order (of August 4, 2020) listing the rotational atherectomy systems ROTAPRO and ROTALINK PLUS of the company Boston Scientific under Title V of the list of reimbursable products and services provided for in Article L. 165-1 of the Social Security Code (LPPR List).

NHS England announced that the specialized High-Cost Tariff-Excluded Devices (HCTED) program is restarted working with NHS providers and NHS Supply Chain colleagues, throughout July and August 2020.

In September 2020, the list of companion diagnostic tests, which are evaluated for reimbursement, was updated. INAMI has a specific reimbursement framework for companion diagnostic tests. INAMI Nomenclature codes from Article 33ter can only be reimbursed in relation to specific biomarker tests and drugs from Chapter VIII of the reimbursable pharmaceutical specialties (Royal Decree of February 1, 2018).

NHS England Clinical Reference Group Stakeholder Registration opened on April 3, 2019, and will continue till December 31, 2020.

On August 31, 2020, Decision Forum decided not to introduce blood-based tests in pregnant women with suspected pre-eclampsia that was evaluated within the New Method framework since 2018

On September 9, 2020, the Dutch National Authority for Health (NZa) published advice on the implementation of integrated funding for maternity care. The NZa recommends implementation by 2028, the latest.

On August 03, 2020, King’s Fund issued a report on technology and innovation for long-term health conditions. It was commissioned by Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) in England to explore four different digital innovations in health services from the UK and the Nordic countries to demonstrate transformative potential and compare and contrast themes across geographies.

At the beginning of August 2020, the French National Authority for Health (HAS) issued a favorable opinion on the inclusion of the genome detection of SARS-CoV-2 by gene amplification on saliva samples to the innovation package (forfait innovation) according to the article L. 165-1-1 of the social security code. The package is approved by the Ministry of Solidarity and Health, after consultation with HAS.

In late august 2020, the Basic Package Advisory Committee of the Dutch Health Care Institute (ZIN) concluded that Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) complies with the ‘state of the art and science’ and is therefore effective.

In August 2020, the network of European HTA agencies, EUnetHTA, announced the final plan of the project OTCA26 “Surgical procedures for treatment of obesity.” The key question of the assessment is bariatric surgery for the treatment of adults with obesity.

In mid-August 2020, the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) published the preliminary 2021 version of OPS procedure coding nomenclature. Numerous content updates and new procedure codes inclusion concern the chapters 1 “Diagnostic measures,” 5 “Operations,” and 8 “Non-operative therapeutic measures.” The list of new endoscopy-related procedure codes added under the respective OPS sub-chapters of chapters 1 and 5 is provided below:

Earlier in September 2020, the Austrian Institute for Health Technology Assessment (AIHTA) released a synopsis of the ongoing research project “Reimbursement decisions for medical procedures in Austria: An analysis of factors – besides clinical evidence – influencing reimbursement decisions for the hospital benefit catalog 2010-2020.”