Belgium: Coronary and structural heart interventions from 2010 to 2015

In a ranking of the gross domestic product per capita in 2015, Belgium ranked 19th in the world according to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It has a Human Development Index of 0.890, in which it is preceded by only 20 other countries in the world. This is, at least in part, due to a well-developed social security system on which all citizens can rely. Over the last 5-10 years, however, this system has come under increasing pressure. This has resulted in insufficient, incomplete and late reimbursement of all technologies that were introduced over the last ten years in the cathlab: intracoronary imaging techniques are not reimbursed at all, and FFR only to a vastly insufficient degree. For several structural heart interventions, a system of limited and incomplete reimbursement has recently been set up, with a requirement to organise these procedures within the frames of hospital networks. Numbers of PCIs have risen by 15% over the last four years, coinciding with an increase in the number of cathlabs by 50%, aiming at better access to primary PCI for STEMI patients. This has also resulted in a decrease in the average procedure volume per centre. Two thirds of PCIs are performed via the radial access. DES penetration has increased to 74%, approaching 100% in some centres, while the uptake of BRS has been very limited so far.