Austria to reimburse Given's capsule endoscopy:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The Austrian ministry of health has authorised the reimbursement of Given Imaging's capsule endoscopy for the inpatient sector. Reimbursement for the Yoqneam, Israel-based company's technology is to be backdated to January 1 2003 up to a value of E1,300 ($1,435). This makes Austria only the second country in Europe, after Portugal (see Clinica No 1047, p 4) to reimburse the procedure. As a result, it is now available to some 18 million people. Since gaining a CE Mark in May 2001, the procedure has been offered for private payment in Europe, making it available to some 350 million people. The European endoscopy and MIS market is valued at some $1.2bn.