The European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry (COCIR) has launched a white paper, "Integrated Care: Better Healthcare for Europe."
The paper emphasizes the role of medical technology and e-health. There has never been a greater need to develop and implement new strategies that will drive healthcare efficiencies and improve clinical outcomes, and there is growing recognition that such investment not only derives clinical benefits but also can drive economic prosperity, COCIR said.
The paper argues that adopting an integrated care approach, taking advantage of the development of personalized medicine and of connected health, diversifying financing and adopting more flexible financial models, and moving from a fee-for-service model toward a payment-for-outcome model can efficiently and measurably improve the experience and quality of care, while reducing the demand on more costly and resource-intensive services.
The paper provides detailed analysis and promotes six priorities for European action:
- Promoting the use of EU funds to transform healthcare systems
- Using technology to improve access and efficiency
- Adopting and deploying e-health solutions
- Using data smartly
- Rebalancing healthcare toward prevention and early diagnosis
- Driving better regulations to ease market access
European healthcare systems need a transformational redesign to be sustainable for the next 30 years, and it is the responsibility of all stakeholders to identify the elements of what such systems should look like, COCIR added.
