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HCP News, December 2012

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Last Updated (Thursday, 13 December 2012 15:33) Written by Administrator Thursday, 13 December 2012 15:28

HCP NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2012

Dear friends,

As the year draws to an end, Health Consumer Powerhouse has the pleasure of thanking you for excellent co-operation during 2012 sending Season’s Greetings and a last up-date of Health Consumer Powerhouse actions during the year! This newsletter contents the following issues:

EHCI – the handbook on healthcare systems!
Setting the standard for hepatitis care - EHepI
Medequality
EU patient mobility
Arab Health

1. EHCI – the handbook on healthcare systems!

Published since 2005, the Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI) has become a standard reference source for everyone in the need of reliable, up-to-date facts about national healthcare systems in 34 European countries. The monitoring and analyses provide unique and easily accessible data about areas such as patient rights and information, waiting times, treatment outcomes, the generosity of each national system as well as access to pharmaceuticals.

– On a monthly base, more than 2 000 unique visitors consult with the EHCI in the website of the Health Consumer Powerhouse, says the HCP webmaster Mr Hans Eriksson. Each time there is a new annual publication there are of course many more visitors but also the steady visitor level tells us about a sustainable interest in the Index.

– From our regular communication with governments and national health authorities we know that the EHCI as well as other Indices more and more serve as handbooks for experts, comments Dr Arne Bjornberg. Our indices provide lots of data available nowhere else in an easily digestible format. Further, our publications prove to have a long life-span through channels such as Euractive, Google and today also Facebook.

On Google, “Euro Health Consumer Index 2012 report” presently indicates 5.8 million hits.

2. Setting the standard for hepatitis care - EHepI

– Viral hepatitis belongs to the group of the top 10 infectious killer diseases in Europe: 125,000 Europeans die from viral hepatitis each year. 23 Million Europeans suffer from chronic hepatitis type B or C. Despite its considerable impact, and although small efforts could already yield major improvements, viral hepatitis still does not receive much attention by health policymakers, says Achim Kautz, vice president of ELPA (European Hepatitis Patient Association).

– For this reason, ELPA are pleased that the Euro Hepatitis Index is now available. For the first time, we now have an overview about how states perform in the struggle against viral hepatitis how in EU 27 + Norway, Switzerland and Croatia. Now we are able to share existing best practice examples amongst all countries, and work on solutions on a national as well as a European level. This index is an innovative tool to fight against hepatitis, declares Mr Kautz.

Population screening especially in risk groups is not conducted systematically in most EU Member States, making it the weakest spot of hepatitis care policies in comparison to prevention and treatment. This is one of the key results of the "Euro Hepatitis Care Index", a comparison of the performance of hepatitis care in 27 EU Member States, Switzerland, Norway and Croatia, which has been published on 6 November in Brussels in the framework of a conference supported by the Cypriot EU Presidency. Consequently, a large proportion of infections will be detected late, leading to secondary damage and making it more likely that patients unknowingly pass on the virus. This finding confirms observations made by patients’ associations and practitioners.

Tatjana Reic, ELPA President, comments: "Even rich countries like Germany do not perform well on screening. We have the doctors, nurses and facilities in Europe, many are excellent, but they do not treat as many patients as they could because there is no effective and systematic screening to detect patients early. Unrecognised hepatitis leads to severe damage of the liver and cancer which makes an infection with hepatitis a potentially life-threatening condition."

The Euro Hepatitis Care Index has been put together by Swedish think tank Health Consumer Powerhouse (HCP) on behalf of and funded by ELPA. First place is held by France, followed by Slovenia and Germany.”

(Quote from one of numerous media clippings on the EHepI).

3. Medequality

The EU healthcare market is characterized by huge inequalities with regard to access to pharmaceuticals. As the above graph reveals, such inequalities are not only a matter of financial resources but can be explained by variations in therapy practice, political priorities, import restrictions and so forth. Or – which is even more upsetting from the patient point of view – the gaps and anomalies can be totally idiosyncratic, depending mainly or entirely on local administrative and/or professional culture streaks.

Health Consumer Powerhouse has developed the diagnostic tool “Medequality™” to identify, measure and describe the variations in pharmaceuticals access and practice. This is a resource of great value to those who want to market and advocate change. For further information about Medequality, please contact Dr. Arne Bjornberg, HCP ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

4. EU patient mobility

Positioned by the Brussels EU weekly European Voice as a patient mobility authority, the Health Consumer Powerhouse president is optimistic about the growth of patient mobility information. In an EV article Dec 6 Johan Hjertqvist and DG Sanco Director General Paola Testori Coggi express expectation for a 2013 breakthrough of patient information to support cross-border healthcare. Mr Hjertqvist has already presented his views on this topic in EV May 19, 2011 and Jan 5, 2012.

Full EV article.

5. Arab Health

Many Arabic countries, especially around the Persian Gulf, have a high per capita spend on healthcare. Patient mobility is a growing phenomenon, with more and more patients looking for regional care options rather than going to Western Europe or the US for treatment, which used to be the pattern. Johan Hjertqvist is invited to lecture at the Arab Health Congress Jan 28-31, 2013, in Dubai. His topic will be: What patient mobility requires when it comes to patient information and outcome transparency and how healthcare management can make open outcomes accounting a competitive force.

For comments and questions about this letter, please turn to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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Health Consumer Powerhouse in European Voice

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Last Updated (Friday, 07 December 2012 13:53) Written by Administrator Friday, 07 December 2012 13:50

Positioned by European Voice, the Brussels EU weekly, as a patient mobility authority, the Health Consumer Powerhouse president is optimistic about the growth of patient mobility information. In an EV article Dec 6 Johan Hjertqvist and DG Sanco director general Paola Testori Coggi express expectation for a 2013 breakthrough of patient information to support cross-border healthcare.

Full EV article »

Tonio Borg part II – abysmal Malta

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Last Updated (Thursday, 22 November 2012 09:46) Written by Administrator Thursday, 22 November 2012 09:36

Some commentators mean that I was too kind to Tonio Borg in my recent blog ("What Tonio Borg didn´t tell us"). My point was that the EP hearing didn´t provide answers to key questions about the health commissioner´s official agenda, such as control of killer bug infections in hospitals. These constitutes a major and growing patient safety problem.

Borg has no background in health or healthcare but as finance minister in the present Maltese government he shares the responsibility for the poor performance of healthcare on the island. The 2012 Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI) ranks the Maltese healthcare as the 26th in Europe - a fight in the very bottom of the Index with countries such as Bulgaria, FYHR Macedonia and Serbia. The Maltese performance is remarkably poor in many aspects: patients rights and information is a black hole. Medical outcomes are an abyss of resistant hospital infections, cesarean sections (only too often are these two indicators inter-linked), heart fatality and undiagnosed diabetes (full result at www.healthpowerhouse.com; International Indexes) . During our visits to the island Maltese authorities use to explain negative outcomes referring to "the Libyan gene" having a harmful influence on the genetic disposition of the population. There has also been great expectations on better medical outcomes following on the opening of the new, big Mater Dei hospital in La Valetta, but yet these improvements cannot be recognised by EHCI data.

Is there then nothing good with Maltese healthcare for others to learn from? There is: smoking prevention seems to work fine and you don't have to pay your doctor under the table to have an appointment. And Maltese patients can read about their pharmaceutical options on the Internet. But that is roughly all.

This indicates that the EU policy for distribution of commissioner assignments is weird and contra-productive. Wouldn't you expect the political leader in healthcare to be picked among top performing countries in this business? Like you wouldn't like somebody from Greece being in charge of EU finances or a Hungarian presently being appointed head of tolerance, equal opportunities and refugees. Tonio Borg would be a far more convincing candidate not only without his statements on "moral issues" but also with a solid backing from the performance of his country.

Johan Hjertqvist, Health Consumer Powerhouse

What Tonio Borg didn´t tell us …

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Last Updated (Friday, 16 November 2012 16:17) Written by Administrator Friday, 16 November 2012 16:09

There has been a significant improvement in patient safety measures in European healthcare, says a European Commission report, published today. This was one of the many important topics that the candidate health commissioner Tonio Borg hardly had the time to address during the EP hearing earlier this week, being bombarded with questions about issues beoynd his mandate as a commissioner.

A health issue well within the EU competence is patient safety and infectious diseases. Not least the new directive of patient information in cross-border care has strengthened the European Commission authority on information, standards and quality control in healthcare. It would have been greatly valuable to hear the controversial candidate for the position as health and consumer protection commissioner, the controversial Maltese Tonio Borg, elaborate on his ambitions and strategy in this (and many other) field when questioned in the EP the other day. But the political focus on abortion and divorce - matters outside of the EU mandate - dominated the hearing, in practice excluding a number of tricky problems in the health commissioner dossier.

One such is how to improve the evolvement of patient safety systems in national healthcare, another action to limit and press back healthcare associated infections (HAI). Breech of patient safety as well as HAI are major killers in healthcare, causing huge suffering and costs. The report finds that in eleven member states (MS) there are mandatory, regularly updated patient safety standards. Five MS do not report any standards at all.

15 MS have systems for reporting on adverse events, i.e. various mistakes in healthcare. Most countries seem to separate reporting from disciplinary procedures, a good thing as fear of punishment might hold back reporting. In half of the MS also patients and relatives have the opportunity to report, a key element in patient empowerment. From this point of view it is embarrassing that only two MS have introduced a specific set of competencies, supporting an "expert patient" culture.

In HAI, where the 2012 Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI) puts up a red alert for no less than 16 (out of 30) countries (read about what this means at www.healthpowerhouse.com), you would find patient involvement even more important. But according to the report only three MS offer a template providing HAI information to patients during the hospital stay. And in one single country in Europe patients in a systematic way are told how to assist in limiting the risk of infection! (read full report at http://ec.europa.eu/health/patient_safety/docs/council_2009_report_en.pdf).

This is exactly the kind of co-operation that will be necessary to cope with tomorrow´s challenges in healthcare. It looks as if any new health commissioner will have a full portfolio...

Johan Hjertqvist, HCP

Prague reform drivers

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Last Updated (Monday, 05 November 2012 17:29) Written by Administrator Monday, 24 September 2012 13:44

The CEE Health Policy Network is an expanding think-tank focusing on Central and Eastern European healthcare reform. These guys are doing a great job and the 7^th Prague International Health Summit represented a sharp look and debate about the future of consumer-oriented healthcare. As shown by a.a. our Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI), most CEE healthcare system lack the transparency and consumer-friendliness of the best Western systems. There is a clear need for systems reform and models for change. The hosts, with whom the HCP has collaborated since we both started our operations, presented alternative scenarios for healthcare by 2020 which the conference participants elaborated on. These thrilling, challenging (and funny) scenarios can be read at: www.ceehpn.eu.

HCP founder & president Johan Hjertqvist lectured on what can be learned from the EHCI findings and why the Netherlands stays top of healthcare Europe.

Download Mr. Hjertqvist's presentation (pdf) »