On April 18, 2024, the French National Authority for Health (HAS) announced the submission of requests for registration in the 2025 HAS Good Practice Recommendations Work program – for professional organizations and in the 2025 HAS Work program – for patient associations.

On May 1, 2024, the Swiss Federal Council adopted a message to amend the Federal Health Insurance Act (KVG) following a parliamentary mandate, which requires a change in how tariffs for laboratory analyses are determined. Instead of being set by the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA), the tariffs of tests in the List of Analyses will be determined through negotiations between collective bargaining partners, streamlining the inclusion of innovative analyses and slowing down the increase in healthcare costs.

On May 01, 2024, the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) published the first release of the 2025 DRG package (RZ25a). Three new procedure codes, five new supplementary payments, four new diagnosis codes and one new DRG will be implemented across gynecology, cardiology, neurology and neurosurgery, and other technology groups.

The French National Authority for Health (HAS) released new recommendations about add-on reimbursement of medical devices and medical aids from the meetings of the National Commission for Evaluation of Medical Devices and Health Technologies (CNEDiMTS) in April 2024. Eighteen recommendations were published concerning the registration of medical devices or modification of registration conditions/extension of indications for the medical devices in the List of Reimbursable Products and Services (LPPR). Opinions concern cardiovascular, neurovascular, gastrointestinal, interventional radiology, nephrology and urology, neuromodulation, and orthopedic devices, as well as medical aids.

On May 6, 2024, the Swedish Medical Technologies Product (MTP) Council commissioned the Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (TLV) to perform a health economic evaluation of MR-guided focused ultrasound (Exablate Neuro) for the treatment of patients with essential tremor and Parkinson's disease. This evaluation is a part of the Orderly introduction framework, a staged process aimed at managing the national introduction of novel technologies. Based on the TLV assessment, the MTP Council will make recommendations to regions regarding the implementation of the technology and the criteria for use.

MTRC shares the most relevant and impactful publications in the field of market access and HEOR for medical technologies in Europe through its Publications Digest. In a recent publication, Haig et al. developed a comprehensive framework for assessing the value of novel patient-facing Digital Health Technologies (DHTs) used in chronic disease management. The authors utilized a combination of literature review and primary data collection via a three-round web-Delphi exercise involving stakeholders from the USA, the UK, and Germany, resulting in a framework comprising 33 stable indicators across various domains. This framework elicits stakeholder value preferences to guide efficient and evidence-based decision-making in assessing these technologies.

On April 30, 2024, the French National Authority for Health published a decision on the modification of its 2024 work program and updated version of the program.

The HTA body of the Tuscany Regional Healthcare issues three types of documents: full HTA reports, rapid HTA reports, and motivational forms. With regional decree 8521 of April 19, 2024, Tuscany Regional Healthcare published three reassessments of medical devices in the cardiovascular, peripheral vascular, and e-health areas.

MTRC shares the most relevant and impactful publications in the field of market access and HEOR for medical technologies in Europe through its Publications Digest. In a recent publication, Shinkins et al. developed preliminary good practice recommendations for the cost-effectiveness modeling of diagnostic tests. The authors conducted a targeted review of guidance from key Health Technology Assessment bodies and a specific cost-effectiveness study on troponin tests for diagnosing myocardial infarction. Recommendations aimed to improve the quality of cost-effectiveness evaluations of diagnostic tests by addressing the unique challenges in linking evidence on test accuracy to treatment effectiveness data, ultimately facilitating a better understanding of how diagnostic tests impact patient outcomes and costs.

In April 2024, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new Interventional Procedures Guidance (lymphovenous anastomosis during axillary or inguinal node dissection, epidermal radiotherapy using rhenium-188 paste), two new Medical Technologies Guidance (Kurin Lock for blood culture collection and GaitSmart rehabilitation exercise program), and one new Health Technology Evaluation using early value assessment approach (digital technologies to deliver pulmonary rehabilitation programs for adults with COPD). Furthermore, two clinical guidelines were updated.

The Draft Order amending the Common Package of Benefits of the National Health System was published in spring 2024. The proposed changes mostly concern screening, primary and community care, eHealth, cardiovascular, and medical aids fields.

On April 18, 2024, the updated version of the Finnish Laboratory Tests Nomenclature was published by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) to come into force on May 1, 2024. A total of four new codes were introduced in the in-vitro diagnostic field.