Opinion Factsheet 

Effective, accessible and resilient health systems

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Opinion Number: CDR 4834/2014
Commission: NAT
Status: Adopted
Date: 03/12/2014
 
calls for health to be recognised as a value in its own right, so that health system expenditure is seen as an investment in population health, one which can have additional benefits in the form of greater productivity, increased labour supply and sustainable public finances;
reiterates that public health is in the first instance national responsibility and upholds the subsidiarity principle in this area whilst emphasising that a considerable part of the responsibility for health affairs lies with local and regional authorities
advocates caution on the part of the Commission when it comes to introducing a comprehensive reporting system for evaluating health system outcomes and notes that one of the advantages of cooperating more closely with the WHO and the OECD could be to make better use of existing data;
believes that the potential synergies between health services in border regions have not yet been fully harnessed and urges the public authorities of the Member States to encourage cooperation agreements in this regard
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS



- calls for health to be recognised as a value in its own right, so that health system expenditure is seen as an investment in population health, one which can have additional benefits in the form of greater productivity, increased labour supply and sustainable public finances;

- reiterates that public health is in the first instance national responsibility and upholds the subsidiarity principle in this area whilst emphasising that a considerable part of the responsibility for health affairs lies with local and regional authorities

- advocates caution on the part of the Commission when it comes to introducing a comprehensive reporting system for evaluating health system outcomes and notes that one of the advantages of cooperating more closely with the WHO and the OECD could be to make better use of existing data;

- believes that the potential synergies between health services in border regions have not yet been fully harnessed and urges the public authorities of the Member States to encourage cooperation agreements in this regard.

Importance

High
Medium
Low
 

Rapporteur's activities

European Health Parliament debate:"What are the future opportunities for better European healthcare?"Panel discussion led my MEP Philippe de Backer, moderated by European Voice editor Peter O’Donnell and bringing together representatives of pharmaceutical indusryu (Janssen EMEA), IT (Google), patients' organisation (European Haemophilia Consortium) and the CoR Rapporteur Karsten Uno Petersen

 
26 Feb
 

CoR Plenary Session

Opinion to be adopted at the CoR Plenary session.

 
02 Dec
 

European Commission

Andriukaitis discusses his vision for European health systems ahead of the December Council Summit: "Moving around Europe is taken for granted, so systems should be in place that can take care of everyone wherever they are". To achieve so, he envisages “a single market for health services”

 
26 Nov
 

CoR Commission activity

The opinion has been adopted by the NAT commission.

 
02 Oct
 

European Commission

DG SANCO director at the European Health Forum Gastein: “The EU does care about the performance of our health systems, because the health system is at the heart of the European social model”

 
30 Sep
 

European Parliament

The Commissioner-designate Vitalis Andriukaitis pledges in front of the Parliament: "I will support efforts to make health systems more efficient and innovative; so that they can provide equitable healthcare to all citizens, while remaining financially sustainable".

 
29 Sep
 

Rapporteur's activities

Meeting with the European Commission's DG SANCO officials from the Healthcare Systems Unit

 
28 Aug
 

Rapporteur's activities

Meeting with the Italian Permanent Representation to the EU (Italian Presidency Team)The Rapporteur used this opportunity to discuss with the Presidency team how do the health care systems both influence and are dependent on the economic coordination and explored the feasibility (and desirability) of any future legislation in the field. Questions were also raised regarding the interaction between the European and international data (as collated and analysed by the EU, WHO and/or OECD) and what could be made to avoid inefficiency, incoherence and unnecessary doubling of efforts.

 
28 Aug
 

Council

EPSCO Council Conclusions

 
19 Jun
 

CoR Commission activity

Mr Karsten Uno Petersen appointed rapporteur for the opinion on Effective, accessible and resilient health systems by the NAT commission.

 
04 Jun
 

European Commission

European Commission adopted Country Specific Recommendation 2014, including health recommendation for 15 EU Member States.The Commission has made recommendations on health to 15 Member States: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain. The recommendations emphasise the need to ensure the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of health systems and call for concrete, targeted reforms to optimise the hospital sector, strengthen primary care and rationalise pharmaceutical spending

 
01 Jun
 

European Commission

European Commission adopts a communication on effective, accessible and resilient health systems COM(2014) 215 final

 
03 Apr
 

European Commission

Press release: Commission stresses need for greater effectiveness, accessibility and resilience for EU’s health systems

 
03 Apr
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