On the 30th of May of 2018, Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has published a report regarding effectiveness of shunt treatment for persons with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus, which was earlier commissioned to NIPH by My treatment choices platform with the purpose to find and summarize key findings from systematic reviews about the effects of shunts in the treatment of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus.

In mid-May 2018, the Catalan Agency for Quality and Health Evaluation, AQuAS, has published an assessment of the efficacy of shoulder arthroscopy for different pathologies and the safety of the procedure for the treatment of shoulder disorders.

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.

At the end of April, 2018, the National Healthcare Institute (Zorginstituut Nederland, ZIN) has published an Overview of the healthcare activities, which were excluded or included with restrictions into Basic Insurance Package.

On 11th May, the Italian Ministry of Health announced from its website that five new Med Tech-related HTA documents are available for public consultation. See the details in the MTRC post.

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 May of 2018, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) approved two additional indications for application of PET/CT for management of malignant lymphomas for coverage within statutory health insurance. As the procedures were included into Directive for methods and examinations and Directive methods of the contract medical care, they are now reimbursed in both hospital and out-patient settings.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development Group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. In April new codes for therapeutic arthroscopic operation of temporomandibular joint, pelvic angiogram and diagnostic small-bore needle arthroscopy were added to the CCSD Schedule.

On the 14th of May of 2018, Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefit Agency (Tandvårds- och läkemedelsförmånsverket, TLV) has published a decision regarding inclusion of number of consumable medical devices for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) into the list of pharmaceutical benefits with the price of SEK 236.35 per piece.

Report includes analysis for the following procedures: radiofrequency ablation, endoscopic plication and suturing, injection of bulking agents and endoscopic augmentation of the lower esophageal sphincter using hydrogel implants. 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.

Report includes analysis for the following procedures: surgical clipping, endovascular placement of a flow diversion device, endovascular coiling and stent-assisted coiling. 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.