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.

On 20th of July, 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI) has published an HTA report on efficacy and safety of endobronchial valve implantation for emphysema. The authors have concluded that the intervention is more effective but less safe than standard therapy in selected patients with severe emphysema. Inclusion in the national service catalogue is only recommended with restrictions.

Emilia Romagna Region published a preliminary information report on the LumiHeal™ KLOX system, a topical photo-converter system for the treatment of acute and chronic wounds.

In 2019 the regulation for “conditional reimbursement to the basic insurance” (Voorwaardelijke toelating tot het basispakket) will be replaced by the Subsidy Scheme for Promising Care. The goal is to make promising treatments, medical technologies, tools and medicines available for patients even faster. The Dutch Healthcare Institute is preparing for the implementation of the new subsidy scheme in the coming months.

On July 27th, 2018, the European network for HTA has published a rapid assessment of the continuous glucose monitoring (CGM real-time) and flash glucose monitoring (FGM) as personal, standalone systems in patients with diabetes mellitus treated with insulin.

On 20th of July, 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI) has published an update of the HTA of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for the treatment of prostate cancer. The report did not find the evidence of benefits of the treatment vs comparative treatments. The inclusion of the method hospital benefit catalogue was currently not recommended.

In July of 2018, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) has initiated the discussion regarding the establishment of the minimum quantity requirements for the surgical treatment of breast cancer and bronchial carcinoma. As the quality of surgery is directly dependent on the quantity, the number of operations performed at hospital and on the designated surgeon, the objective is to understand the importance of the experience and routine practice of the operations to reach the successful treatment outcomes and to determine a minimum number of operations, which should be performed in hospitals to gain enough experience.

In July of 2018, the Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (Tandvårds-Läkemedelförmånsverket, TLV) has updated the product group codes for consumables for better understanding the range of the products. Editorial changes to the codes' descriptions were implemented. Seven new groups for stomach products, plates and bags of different types, which are especially intended for children have been included in the classification.

Clarifications about coding of CytoSorb procedure and use of Flow Diverter in Switzerland were released by SwissDRG.