Last week, BIVDA hosted a roundtable with NICE at our offices, bringing members together with senior NICE leaders to strengthen our relationship and provide clarity on NICE’s processes.
With a new CEO, Professor Jonathan Benger, and Executive Director of HealthTech and Advice, Thomas Slater, it was a timely opportunity to refresh our partnership. We welcomed 25 members to the roundtable while NICE were represented by four members of their team, including the Mr Slater.
Members enjoyed a constructive three hour discussion and were encouraged by certain signals from NICE. They confirmed their intention for reimbursement to follow NICE approval in healthtech, but warned this may take a few years. NICE also emphasised its desire for a predictable, clear pathway for healthtech adoption in areas of highest clinical need, but again this remains in its early stages.
Members also clarified the challenges they face in order to help NICE to improve its offer to innovators. Key concerns included the prevalence of duplicative pilot schemes leading to “pilot paralysis”, the absence of guaranteed adoption following NICE guidance, and questions over the value of early value assessments when adoption timelines can stretch close to a decade.
BIVDA would like to thank NICE for engaging with our members and we seek to build on this exercise with a further meeting later in the year. NICE committed to reviewing the feedback and considering how member experiences can inform future process improvements.
