Treatment of benign prostate enlargement

In the middle of July 2024, the new version of the classification of procedure codes (CCAM v.76) was published. Several changes were introduced, including creating 14 new codes in diagnostic imaging, men’s health, and neuromodulation technology groups.

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 6700 of March 27, 2024, Tuscany Regional Healthcare published three new assessments and one re-assessment of medical devices in the cardiovascular, men’s health, nephrology and urology, and surgical procedures areas.

In January 2023, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published four new Interventional Procedure Guidance (percutaneous image-guided cryoablation of peripheral neuroma, laparoscopic insertion of a magnetic ring, transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the trigeminal nerve, and trabeculectomy with a biodegradable collagen matrix implant ), two new Diagnostic Guidance (devices for remote monitoring of Parkinson's disease, MRI-based technologies for assessing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), and three new Medtech Innovation Briefings (PredictSURE IBD, Ambu aScope 4 Broncho, and Aquablation robotic therapy). One MedTech-related clinical guideline was updated.

In December 2022, the Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) working group, which develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclatures for private payers in England, published Bulletin 187 with changes to be implemented in procedural classification no later than February 8, 2023. Five new procedure codes were introduced concerning orthopedic, surgical procedures, and men’s health. No changes were made to the diagnostic schedule.

In November 2022, an annual update of the Swedish procedure coding system (Classification of Health Care Measures, KVÅ) was released to come into force from January 2023. A total of 119 new surgical procedure codes and 98 new medical procedure codes will be introduced concerning cardiovascular, diagnostic imaging, eHealth, endocrinology, endoscopy, ENT, gastrointestinal, IVD, nephrology and urology, peripheral vascular, and others.

In March 2022, NHS England and NHS Improvement published the MedTech Funding Mandate (MTFM) policy for 2022/23, which will come into force on April 01, 2022. The MTFM launched in 2021 to support NICE-approved and cost-saving devices, diagnostics, and digital products. Commissioners must fund technologies included in MTFM.

In early December 2021, NHS Accelerated Access Collaborative announced seven technologies that will be covered by the MedTech Funding Mandate (MTFM) in 2022/23: four for benign prostatic hyperplasia treatment (UroLift, GreenLight XPS, Rezum, and PLASMA system), and three for improving the patient experience during procedures (XprESS multi-sinus dilation system, Thopaz+, and Spectra Optia). Four technologies included in 2021/22 (placental growth factor-based testing, SecurAcath, HeartFlow, and gammaCore) will continue to be supported.

On August 30, 2021, the Decision Forum for "New Methods" made a positive coverage decision for two methods: Transurethral Microwave Thermotherapy (TUMT) for benign prostatic hyperplasia treatment and organ donation using normothermic regional perfusion in patients with severe brain injury and who died of cardiac and respiratory arrest when life-prolonging treatment is discontinued.

In May 2021, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published five new Interventional Procedure Guidance (ex-situ machine perfusion for extracorporeal preservation of lungs for transplant, transvaginal laser therapy for stress urinary incontinence and for urogenital atrophy, electrohydraulic lithotripsy for difficult-to-treat bile duct stones, and permanent His-bundle pacemaker for heart failure), one new Medical Technologies Guidance (UroLift for benign prostatic hyperplasia), and two new Medtech Innovation Briefings (Axonics sacral neuromodulation system for faecal incontinence and KODEX-EPD for cardiac imaging during ablation of arrhythmias). Also, three clinical guidelines and two Medical Technologies Guidance were updated.

In January 2021, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new interventional procedure guidance (self-expanding implant insertion into the intersphincteric space for faecal incontinence and minimally invasive radical hysterectomy for early stage cervical cancer), two new medical technologies guidance (the PLASMA system for transurethral resection and haemostasis of the prostate, and the VAC Veraflo Therapy system for acute infected or chronic wounds), and six Medtech innovation briefings (Optilume for anterior urethral strictures, AI in mammography, AI for analyzing chest CT images, AcQMap for mapping the heart atria to target ablation treatment, and others). Also, two clinical guidelines were updated.

Since 2020 the use of Prostatic Urethral Lift will be covered by basic health insurance under specific clinical indications.

New codes for Prostatic Urethral Lift system, CT and MRI examination of the neck, fecal microbiota transplant, testicular sperm extraction, implantable rechargeable and a non-rechargeable pulse generator for deep brain stimulation, as well as PET-CT myocardial perfusion with volume, ejection fraction and flow measurements and molecular diagnostics, were implemented in 2020.