Robotic surgery

In August 2024, NICE prioritization board decisions were published regarding the following Med Tech-related topics: clinical guidelines on lower urinary tract symptoms in men (prioritized), NPi-200 for pupillary light reflex in critical care (not prioritized), Aquablation robotic therapy in benign prostatic hyperplasia (not prioritized), and tumor treating fields in glioblastoma (not prioritized).

NICE recently introduced a new centralized approach to prioritizing topics for its guidance and a decision-making body - a prioritization board. In July 2024, the decisions of the prioritization board were first published by NICE. Sixteen topics were prioritized, twenty were not prioritized, and one was withdrawn.

On August 8, 2024, the Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) working group, which develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclatures for private payers in England, published Bulletins 197 and 093 with changes to be implemented no later than October 4, 2024. Thirteen new procedure codes related to cardiovascular, endoscopy, gastrointestinal, interventional radiology, neurology, gynecology, orthopedics, spine, and robotic surgery areas, and four new diagnostic codes were introduced.

On August 7, 2024, the National Agency for Regional Health Services (AGENAS) announced a call for applications for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) for robotic surgery systems with intended use in the following surgical specialties: general surgery, gynecology and obstetrics, and urology, as part of the 2023-2025 National Health Technology Assessment Program for Medical Devices.

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.

In June 2024, the following ongoing mini-HTA assessments for cardiovascular, diagnostic imaging, e-health, endoscopy, gastrointestinal, in-vitro diagnostics, men’s health, neurology and neurosurgery, neuromodulation, peripheral vascular, pulmonary and airways, robotic surgery, and some other fields are evaluated as a part of a framework for the managed introduction of innovations "New Methods" in Norway.

In April 2024, the Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) working group, which develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclatures for private payers in England, published Bulletins 195 and 091 with changes to be implemented no later than June 12, 2024. Ninety new procedure codes and five new diagnostic codes were implemented in ENT, gastrointestinal, in-vitro diagnostics, nephrology and urology, neurology and neurosurgery, pulmonary and airways, orthopedics, robotic surgery, men's health, and general surgery fields.

In March 2024, several method assessments were initiated as a part of a framework for the managed introduction of innovations "New Methods" for cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, men’s health, neurology and neurosurgery, neuromodulation, obstetrics and gynecology, robotic surgery, and some other fields.

On February 08, 2024, the Austrian Institute for HTA (AIHTA) published the 2023 annual HTA report. The report contains AIHTA works, activities, and publications in 2023, including medical technologies belonging to technology groups such as robotic surgery, diagnostic imaging, and neurology.

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 2935 of February 13, 2024, Tuscany Regional Healthcare has published assessments of four medical devices in the cardiovascular and peripheral vascular, ICU/OR, pulmonary and airways, dermatology, and robotic surgery areas.

On December 04, 2023, the Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency initiated its work on a few more health economic assessments of Sedaconda-ACD by Sedana Medical, a disposable product for administering anesthetic gases for patients treated on a ventilator and an alternative to intravenous anesthetics as well as robotic systems for spine surgery, including ExcelsiusGPS by Globus Medical, Mazor X Stealth by Medtronic, Cirq by Brainlab. The assessments are planned to be accomplished during 2024.

In September 2023, the following method assessments were initiated as a part of a framework for the managed introduction of innovations "New Methods" for cardiovascular, e-health, endocrine, gastrointestinal, IVD, men’s health, neurology and neurosurgery, neuromodulation, robotic surgery, and some other fields.