In March 2021, Orders on the approval of the several standards of medical care entered into force, including standards for the provision of medical care for adults with gastrointestinal stromal tumors, cancer of the rectum, esophagus, cardia, biliary system, tracheal cancer, etc. For the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, patients will be provided with primary health care, specialized care, and laboratory testing.

On March 22, 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement released 2021/22 National Tariff Payment System consultation documents and launched an online feedback survey that closes on April 30, 2021. The main proposed change is introducing an "Aligned Payment and Incentive" (API) approach, comprising fixed and variable elements, for almost all services in the scope of the tariff and limiting national prices to unbundled diagnostic imaging services.

On March 31, 2021, the Order of the Ministry of Solidarity and Health on the 2021 DRG system was published in the Official Journal of the French Republic. The Order includes information on the 2021 updates of the DRG system, DRG tariffs, supplements for private and public hospitals, as well as the tariffs for specific packages (emergency treatment package, ATU; small equipment package, FFM; safety and hospital environment package, SE; administration package for pharmaceutical products, services, and specialties in a hospital environment, APE) applicable to the procedures performed in a hospital environment but without hospitalization, etc.

On March 22, 2021, NHS England published the final version of the 2021/22 NHS Standard Contract and associated documents, which took effect from April 01, 2021. NHS England mandates the NHS Standard Contract for use by commissioners for all healthcare services contracts other than primary care. Changes mainly concerned introducing new "Aligned Payment and Incentive" (API) rules proposed by the 2021/22 National Tariff Payment System.

The Danish Health Authority (Sundhedsstyrelsen) updates the Health Care Classification System (Sundheds-væsenets Klassifikations System, SKS) quarterly. It publishes the results on its website two weeks before the implementation, while the files with the changes are sent to the hospital systems. Most of the newly introduced procedure codes concern the gastrointestinal field.

According to the available financial results, published by the German Federal Ministry of Health, the German statutory health insurance companies reported a total deficit of around 2.65 billion euros in 2020. The health fund reported a deficit of 3.49 billion euros in 2020. As of January 15, 2021, the health fund's liquidity reserve was around 5.9 billion euros.

In March 2021, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in England released six MedTech-related reports in its Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Journal, which concerned sacral nerve stimulation and magnetic sphincter augmentation device for fecal incontinence treatment, patch augmentation surgery for rotator cuff repair, in-vitro diagnostics, and eHealth. HTA Journal publishes research reports on the effectiveness, costs, and broader impact of health technologies for those who use, manage, and provide care in the NHS and inform National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance.

To give researchers more tools to assess healthcare innovations' efficiency and demonstrate the effectiveness of novel technologies, the Dutch Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), in collaboration with the National Health Care Institute (ZIN), initiated the new HTA Methodology Program for 2021-2024.

On March 17, 2021, the Evaluation Committee (Bewertungsausschuss) has decided to introduce two new EBM (German Uniform Evaluation Standard) codes related to prescription of health apps with retrospective effect from January 1, 2021.

On March 22, 2021, the repository of innovative laboratory tests (RIHN) and the Supplementary list were published. No new codes for IVD tests have been introduced and no codes were removed in the new versions of catalogs.

On March 08, 2021, Academic Health Science Networks (ASHN) announced twelve innovators ("Fellows") and innovations selected to join NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) award-winning program in 2021. NIA is an NHS England and Improvement initiative delivered in partnership with England's 15 AHSNs, hosted at UCLPartners. All awarded technologies are related to eHealth, including digital platforms, mobile applications, artificial intelligence (AI), wearables for home-based diagnostic.

On March 17, 2021, the Innovation Committee at the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) published the determined funding priorities. Applicants are invited to submit ideas for projects that fall within one of these funding priorities. The deadline for submitting ideas is June 1, 2021.