Brussels, 1 February 2007 - Eucomed, the European medical technology industry association, welcomes the opportunity offered by the European Commission DGSANCO to contribute to shaping future community action in the field of health services. Eucomed believes the European Union has an important role to play in ensuring that patients have equitable access to safe, high quality and efficient care within its boundaries.
In its contribution to the consultation, Eucomed outlines ten areas where EU action could be useful:
Patients should have access to reliable information about new medical technologies and treatments and their availability across the EU, in order to take informed decisions. The medical technology industry should be recognized as a useful source of such information.
The EU could play an important role in generating data and statistics in relation to health conditions, health determinants, treatment options, outcomes, uptake of innovation, causes of healthcare associated infections, etc.
User-friendly tools should be developed in order to evaluate, compare and advertise the performance of health services, including outcomes and diagnostic and treatment charges.
Levels of funding and reimbursement provided by national health systems for new medical technologies and treatments must be sufficient to guarantee equitable access across Europe. More generally, adequate resources need to be allocated to health services. Quality of care and patient safety should not be jeopardized by cost containment strategies. An EU support mechanism could be developed to help the Member States finance health services. A more efficient use of resources can be achieved through increased co-ordination and co-operation.
Innovation in medical technology is a contributor to the improvement of the quality and the efficiency of healthcare. A dynamic entrepreneurship culture is required in the European Union to boost medical technology innovation. Partnerships should be developed to stimulate innovation uptake by the medical professions and by funding and reimbursement systems. Please click here to view the Eucomed 10-point plan to stimulate innovation.
Increasingly, new technologies are being developed that enable patients to receive care in the comfort of their home or away from their "home" clinic or hospital. Homecare should be encouraged, not the least because it will contribute to optimizing the investment in healthcare dramatically, while improving the quality of life of the patient and preserving the patient's freedom. Special attention should be given to aftercare for patients returning home after surgery.
The increasing shortages of healthcare workers, especially in some of the new Member States, are detrimental to the quality of health services. More young people must be encouraged to enter into healthcare professions, and working conditions in the healthcare sector should be improved to stop the "brain drain". Education and training opportunities offered inter alia by the medical technology industry should be rewarded. Staff shortages could be addressed through the development of new disciplines in healthcare provision (e.g. role of technicians); this however would require greater flexibility in the medical professions.
The adoption of a European charter of fundamental patients' rights, followed by a monitoring process to measure implementation at national level, could be a way of reducing disparities across the EU in access to and quality of care. The Acive Citizenship Network has proposed such an initiative in the shape of a charter of 14 rights, including the right to quality, to consent, to information, to free choice and to innovation. The right to a "second opinion" should also be recognized.
Decisions on whether or not a medical technology or treatment is ethically acceptable (for example a treatment using embyronic stem cells) should be of the sole competence of the Member States. However, the EU does have a role to play in fostering ethical practices in healthcare and ethical promotion practices. See Eucomed Code of Business Conduct.
A larger proportion of the EU budget needs to be devoted to action in the field of public health, in order to ensure that the necessary initiatives are undertaken. This would mean reallocating resources devoted to more traditional areas of EU activity (e.g. agriculture).
Mark Grossien
Communications Director
mark.grossien(at)eucomed(dot)be
+32 (0)2.775.92.24
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