UK’s Medtech Funding Mandate to identify and inform NHS service providers of effective, cost-saving innovations in a timely manner
May also facilitate easier procurement and smoother implementation of innovations
Four technologies including pre-eclampsia tests will be supported in 2021/22
Changes to evaluation criteria expected for 2023/24
Last month, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) announced that it will launch a MedTech Funding Mandate policy on 1 April 2021.
The policy aims to accelerate access to effective and cost-saving medical technologies, including in-vitro diagnostics. Quicker access would not only benefit patients but also manufacturers, as it incentivises innovation.
Currently, NHS commissioners might not be aware of all cost-saving and effective medical technologies evaluated by NICE, might not find them on common procurement frameworks nor have had sustainable financing mechanisms in place.
The MedTech Mandate Funding policy takes steps to deal with these issues.
Once the policy kicks in in April, an NHS Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) team will regularly review NICE guidance to identify medical technologies that meet the MedTech Funding Mandate criteria (see below). These will be highlighted on the AAC webpage each July so NHS organisations can have earlier conversations with industry and other stakeholders on how to implement them.
Technologies in the MedTech Funding Mandate may also be procured through the relevant NHS Supply Chain framework from 1 April 2021. This potentially reduces hassle for NHS providers as it gives them the option of procuring them through a common NHS framework rather than doing so themselves.
To solve operational issues, NHS services can also be linked to Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) which are intended to support the implementation of new innovations and share lessons learnt from other NHS organisations that have dealt with these issues.
In 2021/22, all technologies covered by the MedTech Funding Mandate are CCG-commissioned.
In 2021/22 the policy will support devices, diagnostics or digital products that
are effective: demonstrated through positive NICE guidance;
deliver material savings to the NHS: the benefits of the innovation are over £1 million over five years for the population of England;
are cost-saving in-year: NICE modelling demonstrates a net saving in the first 12 months of implementing the technology;
are affordable to the NHS: the budget impact should not exceed £20 million, in any of the first three years.
The technologies that will be supported by the policy in 2021/22 are:
placental growth factor based testing – a blood test to rule out pre-eclampsia in pregnant women
SecurAcath – for securing percutaneous catheters
HeartFlow – creates a 3D model of a patient’s coronary arteries and assesses the extent and location of blockages
gammaCore – a handheld device which alleviates the symptoms of severe cluster headaches
Updates for the MedTech Mandate Funding Policy are expected for 2023/2024. For example, current criteria state that technologies should be cost-saving in a year whilst criteria for 2023/24 states that technologies need only to be cost-saving within 3 years. The policy may also be updated with guidance to risk-sharing agreements.
More details about the specific MedTech Mandate Funding Policy are available here.