Search results

• 

  Medical countermeasures, vaccines and vaccination
  Vaccination : a main component of primary prevention in public health

  Vaccines protect from serious illness and complications of vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccination is one of the most successful and cost-effective health investments in history. Vaccination programmes led to the eradication of smallpox, the near eradication of polio, and an estimated 74% redu...

  Vaccines protect from serious illness and complications of vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccination is one of the most successful and cost-effective health investments in history. Vaccination programmes led to the eradication of smallpox, the near eradication of polio, and an estimated 74% reduction in measles deaths over the last 10 years. Nonetheless, Europe is still facing avoidable large measles outbreaks in a number of countries due to suboptimal vaccination coverage, seasonal influenza vaccination coverage in many Member States is low and in some countries even decreasing, and the current EU polio-free status is at risk due to immunisation gaps and challenges related to polio surveillance. Also, growing vaccine hesitancy contributes to low vaccine acceptance and uptake, involving also health care professionals. Moreover, there are increasing capacity constraints and shortages of medicines, including vaccines, in the European Union and globally.

  • Published: 2018-10-24
  • Corporate Author(s): Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (EU body or agency)
  • Subject: disease prevention, health care system, health expenditure, infectious disease, public health, vaccination, vaccine
• REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the operation of Directive 2011/24/EU on the application of patients' rights in cross-border healthcare

  • Published: 2018-09-21
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (European Commission) ; European Commission
  • Subject: application of EU law, consumer information, cross-border cooperation, delegated legislation, e-Health, free movement of persons, health care, health expenditure, medical device, patient's rights
• 

  Challenges in long-term care in Europe
  A study of national policies

  In most countries, LTC for the elderly is not a distinct social policy field. LTC provisions in many countries are indeed characterised by a fragmentation of responsibilities and consequently a lack of integration between health and social aspects of LTC provision. LTC is typically funded from d...

  In most countries, LTC for the elderly is not a distinct social policy field. LTC provisions in many countries are indeed characterised by a fragmentation of responsibilities and consequently a lack of integration between health and social aspects of LTC provision. LTC is typically funded from different sources and organised at different – horizontal and vertical – levels. The health system is responsible for the care provided by health professionals, while services related to supporting the care-dependent person in the activities of daily life are usually organised by the social sector. Only some countries organise their system in a way which integrates health and social care horizontally (e.g. DK, IE, PT). In most countries, this horizontal split between the health and social sectors is accompanied by a vertical division of responsibilities, with powers attributed at different institutional levels: national, regional and local (e.g. AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, CZ, DE, EE, EL, ES, FR, HR, HU, IT, LI, LT, LV, MK, NO, PL, RO, SI, UK).

  • Published: 2018-10-02
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission)
  • Subject: EU programme, Europe, health care, health costs, health expenditure, marginalisation, organisation of health care, right to health, social policy, social situation, socially disadvantaged class, welfare
• 

  The 2018 ageing report
  Underlying assumptions and projection methodologies

  The sustainability of public finances in the EU can be better safeguarded if its analysis banks on reliable and comparable information on possible challenges to fiscal sustainability, including the expected strains caused by the demographic changes ahead. For this reason, the ECOFIN Council gave...

  The sustainability of public finances in the EU can be better safeguarded if its analysis banks on reliable and comparable information on possible challenges to fiscal sustainability, including the expected strains caused by the demographic changes ahead. For this reason, the ECOFIN Council gave a mandate to the Economic Policy Committee (EPC) to produce a new set of long-term budgetary projections by 2018, on the basis of new population projections to be provided by Eurostat. The EPC and the Commission services (Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs - DG ECFIN) agreed on a work programme with broad arrangements to organise the budgetary projections and reach an agreement on its assumptions and methodologies to discharge this mandate (see the overview of the projection exercise for details). This report provides a description of the underlying macroeconomic assumptions and methodologies of the age-related expenditure projections for all Member States. On the basis of these assumptions and methodologies, age-related expenditures covering pensions, health care, long-term care, education and also unemployment benefits (for the sake of completeness) will be calculated and presented in the sixth Ageing Report to the ECOFIN Council in spring 2018. The long-term projections show where (in which countries), when, and to what extent ageing pressures will accelerate as the baby-boom generation retires and as the EU population continues to extend its life span in the future. Hence, the projections are helpful in highlighting the immediate and future policy challenges for governments posed by demographic trends. The report provides a very rich set of information at the individual country level, compiled in a comparable manner. Comparable and reliable underlying projections are crucial since they cover a long time-span (until 2070). The projections feed into a variety of policy debates and processes at EU level, including the overarching Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. In particular, they are used in the context of the European Semester so as to identify policy challenges, including in setting the mediumterm budgetary objectives (MTOs), in the annual assessment of the sustainability of public finances carried out as part of the Stability and Growth Pact, and additionally in the analysis on the impact of ageing populations on the labour market and potential economic growth.

  • Published: 2018-06-05
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (European Commission)
  • Subject: economic forecasting, EU expenditure, EU Member State, health expenditure, labour force, long-term forecast, macroeconomics, non-working population, pension scheme, population ageing, population forecast, public finance, report, unemployment
• Case T-574/17: Order of the General Court of 21 March 2018 — UD v Commission (Civil Service — Recipient of a survivor’s pension — Social security — Rejection of a request for prior authorisation with a view to obtaining reimbursement of certain medical expenses — New request — Purely confirmatory document — Time limit for bringing an action — Inadmissibility)

  • Published: 2018-03-21
  • Corporate Author(s): General Court (Court of Justice of the European Union)
  • Subject: European civil service, health expenditure, limitation of legal proceedings, survivor's benefit
• A European health card
  Final study

  The adoption of a European health card aims to guarantee a quick and easy access to health and insurance data and to create an integrated system to overcome all the differences between Member States’ healthcare policies. The success of such initiative depends greatly on the achievement of the in...

  The adoption of a European health card aims to guarantee a quick and easy access to health and insurance data and to create an integrated system to overcome all the differences between Member States’ healthcare policies. The success of such initiative depends greatly on the achievement of the interoperability, at a European level, among the healthcare systems of all the Member States to transfer and share medical healthcare data with particular regard to data confidentiality and security. A health card system consists of health cards, health data and the devices and policies that regulate the access to the health information on the basis of what is recorded on the card. There are two major technological aspects: card type and data organisation. All current studies propose technological solutions based on cards of the smart card type (like phone cards, “electronic” credit cards) with some data organised on the card and some in databases. Data confidentiality and security is then ensured by public key cryptography and access authentication schemes although access rights vary on the basis of the national laws of the nation in which the study was carried out. Interoperability among health card systems greatly relies on technology compatibility since it cannot be achieved without having one health card system being able to make use of and/or update computer readable data held on the health cards issued by another health card system. Many experiments were conducted in Europe to introduce smart cards in the health system. The cards used in the health system are similar to those used in communication and banking: The two specialist application segments of health and transport still remain quite small compared to telephone and banking, because of their reliance on small numbers of major projects. Still the growth is massive: health cards jumped by 71% to a total of 60 million in the last year, driven largely by the nation-wide roll-out of the French patient cards

  • Published: 2018-03-02
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (European Parliament) ; MEDEA
  • Subject: health card, health care, health expenditure, health insurance, medical data, public health, social security
• 

  Opinion on innovative payment models for high-cost innovative-medicines
  

  The growth of pharmaceutical expenditures due to new high-cost innovative medicines, under the current institutional framework, creates financial challenges to health systems. The recognition that the current path of growth cannot be continued indefinitely leads to the search of new ways to ensu...

  The growth of pharmaceutical expenditures due to new high-cost innovative medicines, under the current institutional framework, creates financial challenges to health systems. The recognition that the current path of growth cannot be continued indefinitely leads to the search of new ways to ensure that innovation 'that matters' is produced, that patients have access to innovation and that health systems are financially sustainable. This context leads to the discussion of innovative payment models for new medicines that improves the way the three above-mentioned objectives are met.

  • Published: 2018-02-05
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (European Commission) ; Expert Panel on effective ways of investing in Health (EXPH)
  • Subject: health care system, health costs, health expenditure, health policy, innovation, medical research, medicine, payment, pharmaceutical expenses, report, research and development
• Case T-17/18: Action brought on 19 January 2018 — Delfant Hoylaerts v Commission

  • Published: 2018-01-19
  • Corporate Author(s): General Court (Court of Justice of the European Union)
  • Subject: child, dependant, disabled person, European official, health expenditure, indemnification, staff regulations (EU)
• 

  The European Health Insurance Card
  Reference year 2015

  The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) proves the entitlement to necessary healthcare in kind during a temporary stay in a Member State other than the competent Member State. This report presents data concerning the use of the EHIC from 1 January to 31 December 2015, practical and legal diffi...

  The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) proves the entitlement to necessary healthcare in kind during a temporary stay in a Member State other than the competent Member State. This report presents data concerning the use of the EHIC from 1 January to 31 December 2015, practical and legal difficulties in using the EHIC and information about the amount of reimbursements related to the use of the EHIC. Data was collected through a questionnaire launched in the framework of the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems.

  • Published: 2017-12-20
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission) ; HIVA-KU Leuven
  • Subject: EU Member State, health care, health expenditure, health insurance, public health, social security
• 

  Report on the monitoring of healthcare reimbursement for the reference years 2014 and 2015
  Member States which have opted to claim reimbursement on the basis of fixed amounts

  This report presents data on the monitoring of healthcare reimbursement in Member States which have opted to claim reimbursement on the basis of fixed amounts, and relates to reference year 2014 (wherever updated data was available to Member States for this year compared to the previous year's q...

  This report presents data on the monitoring of healthcare reimbursement in Member States which have opted to claim reimbursement on the basis of fixed amounts, and relates to reference year 2014 (wherever updated data was available to Member States for this year compared to the previous year's questionnaire) and 2015. Data was collected through a questionnaire launched in the framework of the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems. The report also includes the figures for the reference years 2013 and 2014. This implies that the new figures could be compared with the baseline measurement of last year.

  • Published: 2017-12-20
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission) ; HIVA-KU Leuven
  • Subject: cross-border cooperation, EU Member State, health care, health expenditure, health insurance, organisation of health care, patient's rights, public health, social security