The patient at heart: outcomes-based systems to revolutionise healthcare in Europe

Living longer lives with fewer health problems is priceless. In order to make this wish come true for all Europeans, regardless of education, income and living conditions, concrete health goals need to be developed, jointly with policy-makers and operators, health practitioners and patients. 

On 1 July 2018, Austria will take the reins of the European Union for six months and seize the opportunity to mark the European policies in its areas of priority, such as research and innovation, entrepreneurship and digital market, and social welfare and health. 

Austria has clear goals for its health system: to promote health and quality of life by increasing sustainably the number of healthy years of life and counteracting the rising costs of healthcare. This experience will likely inspire the health and people-centred priorities during its Presidency, as this programme is seen as an important step towards the national implementation of Health 2020 and is in line with the international strategies initiated by the World Health Organisation, the United Nations, the OECD Health Ministerial Meeting Statement and the European Commission.

Health and education are essential factors for the social and economic future of a country. Therefore, better and connected healthcare across Europe is an utmost priority for EU citizens. This requires new and better education for care professionals, trans-sector sharing of patient data and data infrastructures, and direct involvement of patients and citizens in health decisions. In short: lay the groundwork for trustworthy and sustainable health systems.

Science|Business will be organising a half-day Open Conference on Friday 25 May 2018 (14:00-17:00) in Vienna, hosted by the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research, to raise public awareness and present the ambitions for patient outcomes-oriented health reforms, and the challenges in interconnecting European countries, to a wide range of people including researchers and innovators, practitioners and nurses, patients and other citizens, who will be able to hear from decision-makers and other opinion leaders as they describe their role, strategy and ambitions.

This conference will benefit from the morning’s high-level roundtable outcomes where decision-makers such as Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection, and the General Directorate Health and Food Safety of the European Commissions will have exchanged and discussed the challenges to come for Europe’s health system reforms.
 

Please note that a reception will be held for the participants and speakers from 17:00 to 18:00 (closing time of the Ministry).