Orthopedic procedures

On November 20, 2025, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) announced that Annex 2 of the updated German Uniform Evaluation Standard (EBM) catalog, scheduled for publication on January 1, 2026, will be expanded to include additional interventional procedures.

On November 28, 2025, the entity managing the DRG system in Switzerland, SwissDRG, published the final (billing) version of the 2026 DRG system. In total, 19 new DRGs related to cardiovascular, ENT, gastrointestinal, neurology and neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, and some other fields were introduced. Also, four new add-on reimbursement categories were added.

In November 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in England released four Med Tech-related assessments in its HTA Journal, which concerned procalcitonin evaluation of antibiotic use in COVID-19 hospitalized patients, comparison of the knee arthroplasty versus joint distraction for osteoarthritis, comparison of surgical approaches for mitral valve repair, as well as comparison of sample types for diagnostics of infected diabetic foot ulcers.

On November 13, 2025, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) announced that the 2026 Hybrid DRGs catalog had been approved. A total of 47 new Hybrid DRGs were added, including those for appendectomy, cholecystectomy, as well as minimally invasive procedures on the coronary arteries and peripheral vessels. In the area of orthopedic procedures, Hybrid DRGs have been expanded to include fracture osteosynthesis

In October 2025, the Belgian National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (INAMI/RIZIV) updated the List of implants and invasive medical devices. A new sub-chapter with multiple material codes for the reconstruction of large bone defects and a new sub-chapter with a material code for a pre-formed periarticular osteosynthesis plate were introduced. Two new Nominative lists for brand-specific devices for the reconstruction of large bone defects were also published.

On October 24, 2025, the BfArM (Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices) published the final version of the 2026 OPS procedure coding classification. The OPS, together with the ICD-10-GM (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision, German Modification), forms the basis for the reimbursement systems in outpatient and inpatient care in Germany. Multiple new procedure codes were introduced in several fields, including cardiovascular, endoscopy, peripheral vascular, and orthopedics.

In October 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in England released four Med Tech-related assessments in its HTA Journal, which concerned tumor profiling tests in early breast cancer, remote monitoring of heart failure in people with cardiac implantable electronic devices, microstructural scaffolds in symptomatic defects of the knee, as well as rapid tests for antifungal stewardship in the ICU.

On September 22, 2025, the final version of the document "Changes and innovations in the 2026 LKF model" was published. The main changes include the addition of 32 new procedure codes, the introduction of 19 procedure codes for billing in the day case settings, an update of case flat rates, and adjustments to the calculation of daily and procedural components per case. New procedure codes mainly concern e-health, endoscopy, interventional radiology, orthopedics, and pulmonology fields. No new DRGs were introduced, and two new provisional (NUB) codes were added.

In July 2025, the HTA body of Tuscany Regional Healthcare published nine rapid HTA reports (eight new assessments and one reassessment) of medical devices in the ENT, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopedics, peripheral vascular, and surgical procedures fields.

On July 31, 2025, the Swiss Federal Statistics Office (UFS) released the systematic version of the Swiss classification of surgical interventions (CHOP) for 2026. The CHOP classification is now available in German and will come into force on January 1, 2026. Multiple new procedure codes were introduced in various fields, including the cardiovascular, ENT, extracorporeal treatments, interventional radiology, nephrology and urology, orthopedics, peripheral vascular, and radionucleide therapy.

As of August 2025, the Centre for Assessment of Medical Technology in Örebro region in Sweden is working on health technology assessments in several areas, including in-vitro diagnostics, neuromodulation, and orthopedics.

In July 2025, the Dutch Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) awarded twelve projects under the 2026 round of the Efficiency Research program concerning e-health, diagnostic imaging, gastrointestinal, endoscopy, orthopedics, gynecology, pulmonology, and cardiology fields.