Healthcare systems across Europe are facing unprecedented challenges from an ageing population and a rising tide of chronic diseases that are driving ever-increasing demand for services. Adding to current pressures are an energy crisis, inflation, and Russia’s war in Ukraine that is forcing policy makers to make choices between competing policy priorities. Yet the need for action has never been greater- to build resilience against future health threats and ensure citizens have access to the latest scientific, medicine and health technology innovations that are making their way from labs to clinics.

Too often in considering solutions to rising costs, policy makers have resorted to short-term cost containment, viewing health spend as a burden rather than an investment in the wellbeing of citizens and our economic future. While we need to keep investing in our health systems, many opportunities exist to make healthcare more efficient, improving long-term outcomes within existing budgets and creating fiscal space for the uptake of high-impact medicines and other medical innovations that can transform lives. 

Underlying many of the current inefficiencies is a lack of coordination across the system. The current fragmentation and siloed nature of budgets within and across health and social systems means that the value and affordability of pharmaceuticals and other health innovations tends to be considered only within the limited context of a specific budget, omitting to take account the potential they bring for reduced costs in other parts of the health or social care systems. Integrating budgets across the care cycle would achieve more efficient resource allocation, freeing resources for investment and ensure better value for patients. 

This Financial Times Digital Dialogue, held in partnership with European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) brought together policy makers and other stakeholders from across the healthcare and life sciences continuum to discuss how taking a holistic approach to healthcare spending and outcomes, and using the right policy to address the right issue can drive innovation while keeping health system sustainable and resilient for the longer term.  

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