The report presents a summary of reimbursement situation for endovascular repair (EVAR) of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Only EVAR for unruptured aneurysm 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.

The Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) wants to contribute to stimulating the right care in the right place by making it possible to deploy e-health applications more broadly. In 2019 NZa will examine the possibilities for declaring e-health with the focus on district nursing and long-term care. Also, a large part of the e-health projects is in the pilot phase and the Dutch ‘Care for Innovation’ organization developed a step-by-step plan for a systematic approach for e-health introduction.

The report presents a summary of reimbursement situation for percutaneous vertebroplasty. The following indications are considered: osteoporosis with pathological fracture, secondary malignant neoplasm of spine (breast cancer). 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.

The report presents a summary of reimbursement situation for cardiac pacemakers. Both single- and dual-chamber pacemakers are 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.

During November-December 2018, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) has introduced an organized screening program for the early detection of cervical cancer and initiated consultation procedure for prostate cancer screening.

On February 19, 2019 the new “Catalog of Goods and Services” for the centralized purchasing platform was presented to the regional health authorities by the Minister of Health. This new catalog includes up to 25,000 items, including drugs and health products.

In February 2019, the entity that is in charge of the DRG system in Switzerland, SwissDRG, announced the publication dates of the SwissDRG 9.0/2020 catalog, but also information that concerns the suggestions regarding SwissDRG.

New material code for voice prosthesis was added to the List of reimbursable devices of the Belgian National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (INAMI-RIZIV) in March 2019.

In mid-February 2019, the Swiss conference of cantonal healthcare directors (GDK/CDS) has published information about allocation of hospitals for highly complex visceral surgery in the fields of oesophageal, pancreatic and hepatic resections.

Key changes in the Norwegian DRG system in 2019 include novel payment schemes for dialysis treatment, emergency conditions that occur as outpatient or day case, digital services. Pilot DRG payment models will be implemented for selected medical quality registers and selected procedures for contract specialists.

The French National Authority for Health (HAS) regularly publishes new (32 in total) decisions about add-on reimbursement for medical devices. The decisions made in February 2019 concern various types of devices, including multiple orthopedic, cardiovascular and other devices.

On February 19, 2019, the Nomenclature was updated. The update brought changes in chapter V and VI of Nomenclature, regarding the creation of new codes for laser destruction of congenital port-wine stains, hearing aids and cone beam computed tomography.