Month: February 2012

-Experts in health economics draw together debate the Basque Councillor Rafael Bengoa and the Counsellor Navarre Marta Vera a document have been prepared with the changes proposed by

– among other measures, the authors of the paper opt for selective financing of medical benefits, disinvestment in little clinical value services or the establishment of an evaluation Agency at State level

-alson proposed to modify the pharmaceutical co-payment system, compensation and allocation for results and efforts and the drafting of a General Law on public health

-along with Bengoa discussed document Marta Vera, Minister of health of the Government of Navarra and Ricard Meneu, Vice President of the Foundation Institute of research in health (IISS)

-the meeting is organized by the Health Economics Association (AES), the Basque Institute for health innovation (o + Berri) and Deusto Business School as a foretaste of the XXXII Jornadas of Health Economics held in Bilbao in may

Bilbao, January 2012- the Health Minister of the Basque Government, Rafael Bengoa, discussed in Bilbao next to Marta Vera, Minister of health of the Government of Navarra, Ricard Meneu, Vice President of the Foundation Institute for research in health services (IISS), and Manuel García Goñi, Professor of applied economics from the Complutense University of Madrid, a document drawn up by several members of the Association of health economics (AES) on the way the health system should address the economic crisisMICA.

The own AES has organized the day ‘ health before the crisis ’ with the Basque Institute for health innovation (o + Berri) and the area of healthcare management of Deusto Business School to put on the table and to address the different measures proposed to achieve a sustainable health care system from the economic point of view. Experts in health economics opt for a comprehensive reform of the national health system, with the aim of increasing the degree of the cost-effectiveness of the Spanish health system.

Thus the document focuses on the need of public health’s “ belt-tightening ” and proposes the adoption of a multi-year plan of refinancing that commits both the State and autonomous communities to deal with already contracted debts. It also consists of a list with 14 urgent action that the system should be adopted to successfully face the crisis. For starters, advocates a selective financing of medical benefits, medicines and technologies used in public centres, giving priority to the criterion of clinical effectiveness both in preventive interventions as diagnostic and therapeutic.

In the same way, the document advocates the divestiture, i.e. “ stop funding partially or completely drugs, devices, equipment, procedures or services with little clinical value. The AES also considers the need for an agency assessment of field State with autonomy and distanced from the central and autonomic, Governments whose objective would be in Spain “ inform decisions about financing, disinvestment and reinvestment, defining the medical indications on efficiency criteria, safety and cost effectiveness ”.

For health professionals, the AES proposes a fee according to results and efforts, thus linking the shape and form of payment to them with the objectives of health of the system, such as avoiding paying for Act. Similarly, the document to discuss indicates that payment by results should also be applied to the financing of the centres. “ Pay more to have healthy patients as not having more decompensation of chronic patients with poor adherence to drug therapy ”, literally indicates.

Lastly, the importance that the notice attached to focus health care towards patients chronic, fragile and terminals, the prototype of the medical to collaborate including specialties dealing with the problem of the “ poor institutionalization ” of the national health system and the “ weakness ” Ministry to govern it and proactive and collaborative development of a General Law on public health, “ by strengthening its structures, deeply reviewing their programmes and activating the role of intervention in health policy, not only in health, but in all sectors ”.