On 20th of July, 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI) has published an evaluation of baroreceptor activation therapy for treatment-resistant hypertension. The authors concluded that there is no sufficient evidence to conclude on effectiveness or safety of BAT and thus inclusion of the procedure into the Austrian benefit catalogue is not recommended. There are currently three RCTs going on, and their results may bring new evidence.

The article "Congenital heart defect repair with ADAPT tissue engineered pericardium scaffold: An early-stage health economic model", published in Plos One presented the cost effectiveness of tissue engineered bovine tissue pericardium scaffold (CardioCel) for the repair of congenital heart defects in comparison with surgery using xenogeneic, autologous, and synthetic patches over a 40-year time horizon from the perspective of the UK National Health Service.

On 13th of August, 2018, the association of Swiss insurers, santésuisse, published an announcement in which they state that the control of the invoices received saves the premium payers’ costs up to CHF 3 billion.

On the 14th of August of 2018, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has published a health technology assessment report in relation to autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) comparing with standard treatment for patients with systemic sclerosis. The results have shown that the transplant‐related mortality after AHSCT is high, but risk of organ failure and death is lower after two years follow‐up and beyond compared to standard treatment, AHSCT provides a significant improvement of skin involvement and lung function measured by forced vital capacity compared to standard treatment with cyclophosphamide injections.

On 24th of August, 2018, the company that maintains DRG system in Switzerland, SwissDRG SA, has announced that the planning version of SwissDRG (version 8.0 (2018/2019)) and the planning version of TARPSY (version 2.0 (2018/2019)) have been published.

In mid-August 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI), has published an evaluation of efficacy and safety of carbon ion beam radiotherapy (CIRT) for twelve oncological indications.

On 20th of July, 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI) has published an assessment of left atrial appendage closure to prevent stroke to determine national coverage of the procedure. Considering this evidence, the authors do not recommend the inclusion in the hospital benefit catalogue, neither for percutaneous left atrial appendage occlusion nor for surgical closure using a special clip.

In mid-August 2018, the Catalan agency for quality and health evaluation, AQuAS, has published a report that presents the results of the knee prostheses made by Surgival, a Spanish protheses manufacturer. The report covers the period 2005-2016.

In the second half of July, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published five new Interventional Procedure Guidance for low-intensity pulsed ultrasound to promote healing of fresh fractures at low risk of non-healing, fresh fractures at high risk of non-healing, superior capsular augmentation for massive rotator cuff tears, transaxial interbody lumbosacral fusion for severe chronic low back pain and two new Medtech Innovation Briefings for remote ECG interpretation consultancy services for cardiovascular disease and mechanical thrombectomy devices for acute ischaemic stroke.

The Innovation Credit focuses on the development of promising and challenging innovations with an excellent market perspective. This may involve the technical development of a new product or process or the clinical development of a drug or device. For technical development projects, there is still sample budget available and applications can be submitted.

On 20th of July, 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI) released an assessment of the subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator to determine coverage of the service. Authors concluded that evidence is insufficient to make conclusions about the comparative effectiveness of subcutaneous and transvenous ICDs. However, a substantially lower risk for lead complications in patients treated with subcutaneous ICD.

The report presents a summary of reimbursement situation for placement of inferior vena cava filter to prevent pulmonary embolism. Permanent and optionally retrievable filters are considered. The only reimbursement within public / statutory health insurance systems is considered. 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.