The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development Group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. In January new codes for robotic assisted laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy, ligation of the intersphincteric fistula tract and eminectomy of temporomandibular joint were added to the CCSD Schedule.

In order to decide upon the inclusion of medical benefits into the German statutory health insurance, the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA) can commission the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) with the preparation of health technology assessments (HTA). At the turn of the year, IQWiG published its 220th evaluation dossier since its foundation in 2004. G-BA followed IQWiG’s recommendations in 70% of cases.

In the second half of January, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new Medtech innovation briefings for an amniotic membrane allograft for treating chronic wounds and minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolitholapaxy medium to remove kidney stones, and one new Clinical Guideline for assessment and management of oesophago-gastric cancer in adults.

The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute – Health Technology Assessment (LBI-HTA) released seven decision support documents in 2017. In these, three technologies were recommended for inclusion into the national benefit catalogue. The rest was preliminarily not recommended for inclusion. HTA by LBI-HTA have indirect but strong connection to decision making about funding by the Ministry of Health.

Regional guidelines on the use of leadless pacemakers within the region have been released by the technical committee for medical devices in Veneto.

Ninety-two new codes have been implemented, including protein fractions and reproductive medicine tests.

Plasmapheresis procedure has not been supported for application in patients with Alzheimer’s by Spanish Health Technology Assessment Agency (AETS) due to insufficient evidence.

EUnetHTA analyzed HTA and reimbursement procedures in relation to pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical health technologies in EUnetHTA partner countries. About 59 HTA agencies and decision-makers provided country-specific information and outlined the process of HTA and reimbursement in 31 European countries.

Applications for creation of new codes, removal of code or changes to existing codes and code description can be submitted by the Norwegian Directorate of Health.

The rules describe types of telemedicine systems used, type of care to be eligible for telemedicine services, interaction of medical personnel using telemedicine systems, approach for remote monitoring of condition of patient, and approach for documenting and storing information obtained using telemedicine technologies.

The Andalusian Agency for Health Technology Assessment (AETSA) performed evaluation of transcranial Doppler ultrasonography in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Available evidence was considered as insufficient for formulation of final conclusion. However, AETSA prepared recommendations for evidence generation strategy for this procedure.

The German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information (DIMDI) opened the annual application process for procedure codes (OPS) in the inpatient sector. Applications can be submitted by medical societies and other associations within the German healthcare system Deadline for applications is February 28th 2018 and the new codes will be incorporated in the OPS version effective from 2019.