EHCI Newsletter, December 2013

The Euro Health Consumer Index measurements started in 2005. Since then, HCP has been informed that the European Commission has paid growing interest in this benchmark. During 2013 we have been alerted that the Commission has assessed available systems for healthcare comparison ? including WHO, OECD, European Observatory and so forth ? and concluded that the EHCI is most reliable one. This was publicly confirmed on November 28:

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

Quote from Dr. Vytenis Andriukaitis, Lithuanian Minister of Health, at the presentation of this year’s Euro Health Consumer Index in Brussels on Nov 28. Lithuania holds the presidency of the European Union during the second half of 2013.
Read Dr. Andriukaitis’ speech here.

For further EHCI information: Johan Hjertqvist, HCP president:
johan.hjertqvist@healthpowerhouse.com

After the EHCI launch Nov 28, HCP has met with various national comments: from proud Dutch happy to still be in the lead, through lively media reactions and debate in countries such as Portugal, Greece, Germany, Belgium and Finland to official silence in down-graded Sweden (but with lively Swedish media comments, which pointed to what is perceived as a general decline in Swedish public services).

Serbia, last in the EHCI, reacted differently by quickly inviting HCP to come to Belgrade to explain the outcomes and advise how Serbian healthcare can improve. Accordingly, Dec 18-19 the HCP management will visit Belgrade as guests of the Serbian parliament. Read more about the discussion in the parliament on the HCP website or by following @HCPhealthindex on Twitter.

Early next year the first ever comparison of pancreatic cancer care in Europe will be published. Still rather anonymous, pancreatic cancer is the third largest cause of death among cancers in Europe. The project manager, Dr. Anne-Marie Yazbeck at HCP, expects the outcome to be a “wake-up call”:

– We are not yet finished with the assessment of the outcomes among the 35 countries covered by the EPCI but I suspect that we will find a distressing lack of information with regard to many essential components. And if even healthcare systems and the medical profession lack knowledge about this growing cancer, how will such gaps affect treatment and chances of survival? asks Dr. Yazbeck.

The 2014 EPCI will be published in Brussels on World Cancer Day, Feb 4. Keep eyes open for action linked to the launch.

– We plan to do a pre-launch webinar to present the EPCI structure and explain the methodology before Feb 4. The outcomes will not be available until that day, so pay attention to World Cancer Day, advises Dr. Yazbeck.

The EPCI has received an unrestricted research grant by Celgene Inc. For further EPCI information: Dr. Arne Bjornberg, HCP Chairman and head of research: arne.bjornberg@healthpowerhouse.com.

The 2014 EHCI will be part of the HCP 10th anniversary activities. We invite sponsors to support the continuous development of this leading quality assessment and marketing facility. The 2013 EHCI was supported by Pfizer Inc, Medicover S.A and the New Direction Foundation.

This jubilee index package will for the first time offer the opportunity of targeted, in-demand studies with exclusive admission. For a discussion about this proposal, please address Dr. Arne Bjornberg: arne.bjornberg@healthpowerhouse.com.