Published Mar 18, 2014

Istanbul, Turkey - Official positive list practices revealing the reimbursement status of medical devices globally has become a significant benchmark for decision makers. Considering this fact, it is crucial to explicate whether an official positive list of reimbursed medical devices exists at the national level in regions such as Europe, North America, Western Pacific and Western Asia, where reimbursement systems are relatively well established. In the article, “An Analysis on the Existence of an Official Positive List of Medical Devices in Europe, North America, Western Pacific and Western Asia,” published in ISPOR CONNECTIONS, Öznur Seyhun, MSc and Şebnem Erdöl, MSc from Medtronic Inc. in Turkey, state that the majority of the countries in the examined regions do not have a national-level positive list practice of medical devices and have a heterogeneous structure in their approach to reimbursement decisions. Seyhun and Erdöl conclude that it is crucial to have a unique approach in the reimbursement decision-making process that is customized to each specific country, rather than taking only reimbursement practices of other countries, such as positive lists as benchmark.

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