NHS England announces first medtech devices and apps to join fast track payment scheme for innovation

2 Nov 2016 03:50 PM

Medtech devices and apps will for the first time be included under NHS national payment rules helping to accelerate uptake, NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens has announced yesterday. The commitment to create a new Innovation and Technology Tariff was announced by Mr Stevens in June.

Now following clinical review, the first six innovations have yesterday been selected as part of a new Innovation and Technology Tariff, benefiting women giving birth, patients with chronic lung problems, men having urological surgery, and acutely ill inpatients. NHS England is also, in parallel, backing new mobile technology solutions for diagnosing heart problems.

The new Innovation and Technology tariff will help cut the hassle experienced by clinicians and innovators in getting uptake and spread across the NHS. It will remove the need for multiple local price negotiations, and instead guarantee automatic reimbursement when an approved innovation is used, while at the same time allowing NHS England to negotiate national ‘bulk buy’ price discounts on behalf of hospitals, GPs and patients.

NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens said: “The NHS has a proud track record of world firsts in medical innovation but getting wide uptake has often been far too slow. Our new payment system brings clarity on fast track funding to get groundbreaking new treatments and technologies to NHS patients. Many of them not only improve care but will save the NHS money too.”

The innovation categories that subject to approval will join the national NHS payment scheme are:

Separately from the tariff, there will also be central funding for CCGs to purchase mobile ECG devices, which patients can use to identify and measure atrial fibrillation through mobile ECG technology. Early detection of atrial fibrillation in patients helps to prevent stroke, a serious and life threatening medical condition which can lead to long periods of rehabilitation and decreased independence and enjoyment of life for the patient and huge costs to the NHS.

Peter Ellingworth, Chief Executive of Association of British Healthcare Industries said: “This welcome new approach from NHS England will help ensure a robust, accessible and effective scheme that provides timely patient access to a wide range of medical technologies. We look forward to working with NHS England to implement these changes – and helping to develop an expanded scheme for 2018/19”

NHS England will directly fund the costs of six of the selected innovations in 2017/18 and will evaluate the impact of the Innovation and Technology Tariff in improving patient outcomes and increased efficiency across the NHS. It will expand the number of innovations covered by the tariff for future years, through a wider scheme that has been designed with industry, the NHS and the Academic Health Science Networks.

Dr Liz Mear, Chair of the AHSN Network, said: “AHSNs and their partners provide a key role in getting new treatment innovations adopted into the NHS for the benefit of patients and the population. As a national network we have worked with NHS England to support the introduction of the Innovation and Technology tariff and will support NHS organisations wanting to embrace innovation to help them get the latest medtech devices and services to their patients as quickly as possible.”