Health Consumer Powerhouse

Johan Hjertqvist in Athens

April 11 Johan Hjertqvist lectured at the Healthworld 2005 conference in Athens, arranged by the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce. You find his lecture as below. Read more »

Johan Hjertqvist speaks at Global Medical Forum

Johan Hjertqvist speaks at the Global Medical Forum IV in Zurich on the Topic of The Health Consumer Vision. He states that Health is at the core of modernity and points out that a recent Populus survey conducted in 8 European countries shows that 75% of young Europeans, and even a majority of the elderly is ready to go abroad to have treatment.

The presentation is available in PDF-format on request.

Health Consumer Powerhouse i den svenska debatten

I Göteborgs-Posten 21/2 hävdade forskarna Hans Hasselbladh och Rolf Å Gustafsson att försöken med marknadsreformer inom äldreomsorgen helt underkänts av Socialstyrelsens rapport Konkurrensutsättningen inom äldreomsorgen.

Kristian Tiger, utredare på Health Consumer Powerhouse, bemötte detta påstående och påpekade att Socialstyrelsens rapport i själva verket präglades av stor försiktighet och framhöll bristen på statistik och fakta. Socialstyrelsen ansåg sig helt enkelt inte förmögna att dra några definitiva slutsatser. Tiger påpekade också att artikelförfattarna valt att bortse från försöken med kundvalssystem inom äldreomsorgen vilka på många sätt visat sig vara mycket framgångsrika där de prövats.
Read more »

Commission set-back on services good for health consumers?

As suggested in our newsletter Feb 2 the European Commission seems to be loosing the battle on the Service Directive. Eager to dismantle anti-integration sentiments among members countries up for referendas on the EU Constitution the Commission now sacrifices the drive for a joint service market. According to yesterdays press conference by Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy health services will be excluded from the Directive, as such to be rewamped.

As few people believe in a separate Health Services Directive the announced retreat means there will be no further legal EU regulation of health services. The European Court of Justice will in practice remain the policy maker, step by step expanding the mobility of patients. This EU juris prudence though needs implementation into national legal frameworks to become efficient; ordinary EU-citizens seldom take action to sue their goverments by appealing to the European Court...

The lack of clear guidelines will as well limit the mobility of health care providers across national borders. The outcome in total means a delayed integration of health care opportunities across Europe. Exluding health services - from an economic point of view far more important than air transports or web-hosting - is at set-back to the Lisbon agenda and reveals how the high-risk game of referenda on the Constitition will devaluate the Barroso action plan for economic growth.
Read more »