Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)

On the Interterritorial Council that took place March 4th, 2019, the Working Plan for the Spanish Network for Health Technology Assessment was agreed and published. The working plan includes 22 health technology assessment reports, 7 monitoring studies, 9 clinical practice guidelines, and 1 evidence-based product.

In early February 2019, the entity that performs health technology assessment for medical devices in Italy, AGENAS, has called for the voluntary contribution of the clinical experts and/or reviewers, as well as for the participation of the manufacturers for announced that they’re working on several HTA projects on different medical devices and procedures, including bariatric surgery, continuous glucose monitoring, Elecsys®sFlt-1/PlGF test and others.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) group develop and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. New procedure codes concern robotic-assisted laparoscopic procedures, 2-dimensional radiotherapy, revision of anti-reflux operations, etc. The codes are introduced with a recommended adoption date being the 1st of May 2019. The document also contains a list of textual changes in codes and an updated list of unacceptable combinations of codes.

In mid-August 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI), has published a health technology assessment in which they have assessed the efficacy and safety of stereotactic radiotherapy (Cyberknife®), proton beam therapy and irreversible electroporation (Nanoknife®) for localized prostate cancer (PCa). It was concluded, there is inadequate and insufficient evidence to show that three evaluated technologies have either a positive impact on survival and quality of life or the ability to prevent or delay prostatectomy.

In mid-August 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI), has published an evaluation of efficacy and safety of carbon ion beam radiotherapy (CIRT) for twelve oncological indications.

In the second half of May, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new interventional procedure guidance for low-level laser therapy for preventing or treating oral mucositis caused by radiotherapy or chemotherapy and endoscopic bipolar radiofrequency ablation for treating biliary obstruction caused by cancer.

Two mini-method assessments regarding brachytherapy for esophageal cancer and targeted gene deep-sequencing panels were initiated by Oslo University Hospital in May of 2018. All finalized mini-method assessments are published in the National Database for Mini-HTA.

This is an updated version of the National Clinical Guidelines for the Treatment of Brain Metastases published in 2014.

Eight reimbursement reports with the total size of 882 pages cover the most common radiotherapy modalities including brachytherapy, 3D conformal radiation therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiation therapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), image-guided radiotherapy, proton therapy. The analysis covers procedure coding, payment mechanism, reimbursement tariffs and policy restrictions in 12 EU countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

In April 2018, Danish Health Authority published 163 new codes for the Health Care Classification System, including five diagnosis codes, 34 surgical and 29 medical procedure codes. These codes are used to classify procedures in Danish DRG system.

The background for updating the National Clinical Guideline for Treatment of Brain Metastases is that local treatment (stereotactic radiation therapy) has gained more space in the treatment of brain metastases.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development Group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. In February new codes for preparation and delivery of radiotherapy, knee resurfacing arthroplasty, balloon dilatation of the Eustachian tube and MRI-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) thalamotomy for essential tremor were added to the CCSD Schedule.

Interstitial low-dose rate brachytherapy was commissioned to the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) in order to analyze the current knowledge on procedure.

The background for updating the National Clinical Guideline for Treatment of Brain Metastases is that local treatment (stereotactic radiation therapy) has gained more space in the treatment of brain metastases.

The Department of Home Affairs (EDI) in Switzerland decided upon the coverage with evidence development (CED) of two types of positron emission tomography as well as stereotactic radiotherapy (photons) of exudative age-related macular degeneration. The status is given to contested medical services for a specific period which is extended until evidence is complete.