Health Consumer Powerhouse

Will the EU finally deliver – or make us disappointed once again?

Last Updated (June 24, 2010) Written by Administrator June 24, 2010

The European Union has hardly gained reputation for action that significantly simplifies the life of common citizens. There are no doubt such measures but more often they disappear behind the media hype of bureaucratic details and interventions. During the autumn of 2010 there will be a number of opportunities for the EU to prove that added value can be delivered in the field of European healthcare.

A growing number of member states cut down on public spending to handle the effects from the financial crisis. In practice there will be an impact on healthcare budgets - not immediately, but in the next few years. Can the EU contribute to support the transformation of healthcare into more user-friendly functions, allowing for a deeper personal involvement (which can save money, as responsibilities and value awareness increases)?

"McHip"

There are issues for the EU present agenda which - potentially - could move in this direction. I think of patient mobility, which over time will affect the way you look on treatment costs. As the cross-border care directive will gradually implement there will be a debate about medical travelling as a way to save money and improve outcomes; transparency of treatment costs will show that if you send patients abroad to other EU members you might get three hip replacements for the cost of one such operation in the country of residence. Think of how a "McHip Index" would impact! To build such a process credible and reliable you will have to allow people to learn about where to find good healthcare, avoid poor quality and how to compare the performance. Driving such a transparency process would be a valuable EU contribution to creating alternative strategies to the traditional cost squeeze in healthcare.

"Democratic compliance"

Allowing people to have the full picture also in another area - consumer information about prescribed medicines - could have similar effects. You might be surprised? Is not the established truth that better informed patients ask for more expensive medicines? Can we afford such a perspective? Yes, we can - and should!

Under-informed patients are used to somebody else paying the bill and often do not follow the doctors prescription, leading to huge amounts of medicines left in cupboards or even causing harm. This is not surprising, as understanding is a requisite for "democratic compliance". But still there is a blatant lack of reliable medicine information sources for the demanding consumer. Here there is a risk the EU will legislate to prevent consumer access to the full picture. The super-aim of preventing pharmaceutical companies to market their products still paralyses policy; instead of allowing any kind of "pull" information on the Internet to empower patients there will probably be maintained censorship. Still patients cannot be trusted to know of side effects and the view of fellow users...

Organ donations

For Europeans in the need of transplantation the new organ donation framework will save lives. Again, transparency will be a key driver for improvement, telling stakeholders how unequal the chances are distributed to survive or recover thanks to organ transplantations. This does not have to be a matter of money, rather of cultural and political attitudes. A joint EU policy will drive development.

Join our "open consultation"!

These are just a few of the health-related topics. During this spring, Health Consumer Powerhouse has run an "open consultation" on how consumers use the emerging websites of hospital performance comparisons, with a record participation around the EU. After summer we will present a report suggesting improvements to increase the impact on patient choice. We are right now opening a second round of input on our preliminary findings (this time not only for care consumers).

Please feel free to visit our blog to provide your views - regardless in what capacity you take an interest!

In the field of consumer information on medicines we will present alternatives to censorship, promoting user empowerment. Here as well we have asked for patient experience - and got more than 1 000 answers! Medicines information is a topic that engages. How will EU ever become competitive if being stuck to the debate of yesterday when the future - with a wide range of Internet options - calls for individual involvement, not exclusion?

My initial question remains to be answered. Will the next EU presidencies, the new Commission and the European Parliament contribute - or block the road?

Johan Hjertqvist