This page gives you an overview of the tools developed by KCE as support.
New: Reform of the Belgian hospital landscape |
| Online tools: | Paper tools: |
Prescription of statins for primary prevention
This shared decision-support website is intended to provide general practitioners with scientifically-based support when discussing with their patients whether or not to prescribe statins for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
This decision should ideally be made in consultation with the patient. For this reason, the texts on the site have been written to be accessible to the general public.
The site proposes a two-step approach:
- an assessment of the patient's cardiovascular risk using the Belgian SCORE (BEL) or the European SCORE (ESC) tool.
- the value obtained is then automatically used by the algorithm to compare the patient's cardiovascular risk with and without statins. This algorithm is based on data from the KCE HTA report (report number 306).
The result can be saved as a pdf file for inclusion in the patient’s medical record or printed and given to the patient.
The site is available in French, Dutch and German.
Testing STIs in a sexual health consultation
This interactive tool (https://sti.kce.be/en/) is intended as a guide for primary care practitioners during consultations on sexual health.
It allows:
• to proceed step by step, as from the first conversation with the patient to post-treatment follow-up and partner notification
• or to go directly to a given theme by clicking on the corresponding tab.
This tool incorporates the recommendations of the guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of gonorrhea and syphilis (KCE - 2019) and chlamydia infections (1st line Recommendation development group - 2019).
It also deals with diagnostic tests for HIV and hepatitis A, B and C. The site is available in French, Dutch and German.
Pathway for low back pain and radicular pain
This interactive care pathway (www.lowbackpain.kce.be/) is based on the KCE Clinical Practice Guideline for Lumbar and Radicular Pain (2017). It aims at organising the management of lumbar or radicular pain according to its duration and the professional discipline involved.
This tool has been developed in close collaboration with the Spine Society of Belgium and representatives of general practitioners, physiotherapists and other practitioners of manual techniques (osteopaths and chiropractors), specialists in physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthopaedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, anaesthetists/algologists (pain clinics) and psychologists, as well as occupational therapists and ergonomists, occupational physicians and mutual insurance consultants for work-related aspects.
For a short explanation on the use of this interactive itinerary, you can watch a short video in French or in Dutch. The site is available in French, Dutch and German.
Preoperative routine testing (in French and Dutch only)
This application for smartphones, tablets and PCs (https://preop.kce.be/en/) helps the health practitioner to determine which preoperative examinations should be carried out (or not) in a patient before an elective surgical procedure, depending on his or her health status and the severity of the planned procedure.
This tool was developed on the basis of the KCE Clinical Practice Guideline on the same subject, developed with field practitioners and patient associations. It can be downloaded free of charge via the App store (iOS), Google play (Android) or at http://preop.kce.be
The application exists in French and Dutch.
A pdf algorithm with the same recommendations can also be downloaded in English (578.93 KB) "pdf".
Decision aid for an informed choice when patient asks for PSA screening
This decision aid brochure (in French (1.84 MB) "pdf" and Dutch (1.86 MB) "pdf" only) has been developed to help physicians explain the advantages and disadvantages of PSA prostate cancer screening to their patients. It should enable men to make a choice that is most consistent with their personal values.
It consists of two parts: Information for the physician:
• update of knowledge on the consequences (positive and negative) of PSA screening;
• the tool itself, to be used during consultation: for each message, the right page of the printed document contains the diagrams to be shown to the patient. On the left page the diagrams are explained.
The following questions are addressed:
• What are the main causes of death for men between 55 and 69 years old?
• What will happen within 15 years after the first screening?
• What are the short-term consequences of screening?
• What are the medium- and long-term consequences of (no) screening?
The figures in the diagrams are based on Belgian data. They make it possible to extrapolate the results of the ERSPC study to the characteristics of the Belgian male population.
The brochure (in French or Dutch) can be obtained free of charge at info@kce.fgov.be; it can also be downloaded from the KCE website ( French (1.84 MB) "pdf" or Dutch (1.86 MB) "pdf").
Informed choice on breast cancer screening: messages to support an informed decision
KCE has developed a set of neutral messages (in French and Dutch only) for women with a "normal" risk (i.e. not for those from "breast cancer families"). Particular attention has been paid to the clarity of these messages in order to make them accessible to everyone. This teaching material is intended for anyone working in the field, and can be used with the women concerned or included in written documentation. It is available in French and Dutch.
• Document for women aged 40 to 49: French (844.1 KB) "pdf"or Dutch (861.74 KB) "pdf"
• Document for women aged 50 to 59: French (849.65 KB) "pdf" or Dutch (867.88 KB) "pdf"
• Document for women aged 60 to 69: French (857.47 KB) "pdf" or Dutch (874.9 KB) "pdf"
• Document for women aged 70 to 79: French (861.92 KB) "pdf" or Dutch (879.16 KB) "pdf"
Reform of the Belgian hospital landscape: simulation tool
At the request of the Interministerial Conference (IMC) on Public Health, a group of experts issued an advice (NL or FR) at the end of 2025 on the reform of the Belgian hospital landscape.
Based on healthcare provision and accessibility, the experts propose a hospital landscape with clear roles for four types of facilities. Criteria were proposed for each type, based on the number of acute justified beds, the total number of beds, the annual number of births and geographical accessibility.
To support this, KCE has developed an online simulation tool. It maps the current healthcare provision and accessibility of hospitals, and simulates how that landscape would evolve during the transition to the four-type model. In addition to healthcare provision, the accessibility of a site also plays a crucial role, particularly in less densely populated regions. Using realistic traffic data, the tool calculates the average journey time by car for people travelling to a Regional General Hospital.
The simulation tool can help to objectively test a range of scenarios, such as mergers, the repurposing of hospital sites, the relocation or closure of certain healthcare services (e.g. emergency services or maternity), etc. By regularly updating the tool, KCE aims to ensure that, even independently of its advice, it continues to provide ongoing support to policymakers and the hospital sector in making decisions on reforms.
