European Semester: Country Specific Recommendations 2018
19.07.18
EFPIA welcomes the adoption by the Council of the Country Specific Recommendations in the context of the European Semester, the EU’s annual cycle of economic and financial policy coordination. The recommendations are primarily focused on highlighting reform needs to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability of public finances.
Thirteen countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia) received recommendations relating to healthcare and long-term care. For some countries, mainly in Western and Northern Europe, the recommendations are focused on increasing the cost-effectiveness and long-term sustainability of healthcare systems, while for other countries the need to increase access to and quality of healthcare services, strengthen the health workforce and disease prevention measures is highlighted.
For many countries, the need to reduce the reliance on inpatient care and instead strengthening primary and community care services are seen as fundamental for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the health systems, as well as focusing on health promotion and disease prevention. EFPIA notes that none of the issued recommendations highlighted pharmaceutical expenditure as problematic in terms of financial sustainability of health systems, and would welcome a more holistic and system level debate on pharmaceutical and other healthcare expenditure in this regard.
EFPIA welcomes a continued debate on European healthcare reform to both improve health outcomes for patients, where there are still stark differences both between and within countries, and increase the financial sustainability of the systems, both in the context of the European Semester and the EU State of Health cycle. EFPIA is supporting the transition to outcomes-based healthcare systems where patient-relevant health outcomes are put in the center for assessing the performance of health systems and the efficient allocation of spending.