A change in the Services Order (Ordinanza sulle Prestazioni, OPre), regarding surgery in general, will come into force on January 1st, 2019. This change makes it possible to reimburse a number of surgeries in hospital settings in exceptional circumstances because in general, these procedures should be performed in out-patient settings.

In April of 2018, the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has published an update for the report V14-03 “Systematic guideline search and appraisal, as well as extraction of relevant recommendations, for a disease management program (DMP) for osteoporosis” from 2016 in order to find additional evidence on integrated concepts of medical and physical rehabilitation. However, no new information was identified and included into the report.

Russian Ministry of Health approved the Order #260, which introduces a national program for modernization of equipment of pediatric ambulatory clinics and out-patient department of pediatric hospitals in 2018-2020 years. The budget of the program is 411 mln euros.

The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute (LBI-HTA), the Austrian HTA body, develops health technology assessments of medical technologies to support decision-making about coverage of these methods in Austrian public reimbursement system. MTRC summarized the list of reports to be published by LBI-HTA until the end of 2018.

At the beginning of June 2018, the Andalusian agency for health technology evaluation, AETSA, has published a meta-analysis on digital tomosynthesis in breast cancer.

Remote follow-up for chronically ill patients is included in a new trial that will start in Norway in autumn 2018. Six municipal cooperation projects received grants to participate in this trial in collaboration with the National Welfare Technology Program (Nasjonalt velferdsteknologiprogram).

New recommendations for cervical cancer screening will focus on how we ensure that all women have the opportunity to participate in screening and on the use of HPV tests.

MTRC has developed reimbursement overviews for 14 EU countries. Overviews cover stakeholders, money flow, payment model, DRG system, innovation funding, coverage with evidence development, the role of health technology assessment, funding frameworks and reimbursement pathways. Reports are delivered in PowerPoint. Video explanations are available as well.

NHS England will fast track clinical trials and improve access for patients. As a result, patients will benefit from quicker access to clinical trials and the NHS will become a more attractive place to undertake research.

On the 23rd of May of 2018, the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has published an update version of the report “Colorectal cancer screening in persons with familial risk”, which was commissioned to IQWiG by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) in October of 2017 to provide an answer, whether people under 55 years of age with a family history of colorectal cancer benefit from a screening test. Like the previous report, the current one therefore concluded that the benefit of screening for under 55-year-olds with a family history of colorectal cancer is unclear.

In late May 2018, the Health Technology Evaluation Service of the Basque County, OSTEBA, has published an assessment where they compared the clinical utility (safety, morbidity and effectiveness) of radiofrequency tonsil reduction with that of traditional tonsillectomy and other surgical options for enlarged tonsils.

On 28th of May, 2018, the Swiss Medical Tariff Commission (CTM-MTK) has agreed with the hospitals association (H+) on a transitional solution for the application of TARMED, which will last until July 31st, 2018.