EHCI News April 2013

HCP is about to start the project of the 2013 Euro Pancreatic Cancer Index (EPI). Further, this newsletter touches on some other HCP issues:

1. 1. Measuring pancreatic cancer
2. 2. EHCI 2013
3. 3. HCP 10^th anniversary

HCP will produce the Euro Pancreatic Cancer Index (EPI), for the first time comparing and analyzing the therapy options around Europe. The EPI will be published early 2014.

Although the actual number of people predicted to die from cancer in the European Union this year will increase, the rates of cancer deaths (calculated as per 100,000 of the population, by age group) continue to fall. Compared with deaths from five years ago the sharpest fall was seen in breast cancer rates, which dropped by 9%.

However in pancreatic cancer, the rates of death and the numbers affected are rising among both men and women. For the EU as a whole, rates of death to pancreatic cancer rose from 7.86 in 2007 to 8.01 per 100,000 among men, and from 5.24 to 5.38 per 100,000 among women.

Compared to other cancers, the mortality rate of pancreatic cancer is very high and there has been a lack of effective cures and even life-prolonging therapies.

– The overall decline in cancer mortality rates across Europe is a reflection of the decline in smoking and the considerable progress made in prevention, detection and treatments of most cancers. There has not been much progress in these areas for pancreatic cancer – a direct result of decades of underfunding of the disease, says Dr. Arne Bjornberg, HCP Chairman & COO.

We will keep you posted on the EPI work.

The next edition of the Euro Health Consumer Index – the bestselling performance ranking – is now under production and will be published by November.

The Euro Health Consumer Index is today the leading public measurement of how national healthcare systems perform in 35 European countries. We have recently learned that the European Commission after assessing various benchmarks has found the EHCI to be the most accurate and reliable comparison.

The 2013 edition will take a deeper look into the outcomes of the financial crisis, taking its toll on many healthcare systems. Already the 2012 EHCI edition noticed signs of deteriorating economy, affecting access and patient fees. Now, in the midst of the crisis, there should be more evident effects to describe and measure.

EHCI 2013 will be published by November.

Do you have ideas what data and indicators that could be used to look into the crisis impact on healthcare, we would appreciate your input! Please send a message to Dr. Arne Björnberg, head of EHCI research (arne.bjornberg@healthpowerhouse.com).

We will offer a continuous reporting on the progress of the EHCI 2013 work.

Time flies and already HCP has been around for ten years! 2014 we will be celebrating our jubilee with new indices, why we look for sponsors!

2005 the first Euro Health Consumer Index was born. It is time to celebrate our first decade in performance measurements, empowering patients and improving the quality of healthcare. For 2014 we hope for your support to make potentially three major indices come true:

• The Euro Women’s Health Index, looking into female health issues and gender anomalies in healthcare; do you have to be a male to receive the best care?

• The Euro Healthy Aging Index, measuring to what extent Europe is ready to meet the challenge of keeping its senior citizens fit, active and healthy and what this will take.

• The Euro Health Crisis Index; how does the financial crisis affect national healthcare systems and the health of Europeans, what are the consequences and are there ways to neutralise – or maybe even gain from – the funding shortage?

Soon we will present these projects more in detail as well as the jubilee plans. As always we will need your sponsorship to be able to fulfill these ambitions. Right now, please use the mail address below to tell us if you would like to have a briefing of our 10^th anniversary schedule.

Further, let us know how you look upon these three index projects. Are these themes you find valuable? Are there additional topics to be addressed?

Please mail us at:
jubilee@healthpowerhouse.com

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Health Consumer Powerhouse Ltd.