Testing cost containment of future healthcare with maintained or improved quality—The COSTCARES project

Karl Swedberg (Corresponding Author), Desmond Cawley, Inger Ekman, Heather L. Rogers, Darijana Antonic, Daiga Behmane, Ida Björkman, Nicky Britten, Sandra C. Buttigieg, Vivienne Byers, Mats Börjesson, Kirsten Corazzini, Andreas Fors, Bradi Granger, Boban Joksimoski, Roman Lewandowski, Virgilijus Sakalauskas, Einav Srulovici, Jan Törnell, Sara WallströmAxel Wolf, Helen M. Lloyd

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)
26 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background: Increasing healthcare costs need to be contained in order to maintain equality of access to care for all EU citizens. A cross-disciplinary consortium of experts was supported by the EU FP7 research programme, to produce a roadmap on cost containment, while maintaining or improving the quality of healthcare. The roadmap comprises two drivers: person-centred care and health promotion; five critical enablers also need to be addressed: information technology, quality measures, infrastructure, incentive systems, and contracting strategies. Method: In order to develop and test the roadmap, a COST Action project was initiated: COST−CARES, with 28 participating countries. This paper provides an overview of evidence about the effects of each of the identified enablers. Intersections between the drivers and the enablers are identified as critical for the success of future cost containment, in tandem with maintained or improved quality in healthcare. This will require further exploration through testing. Conclusion: Cost containment of future healthcare, with maintained or improved quality, needs to be addressed through a concerted approach of testing key factors. We propose a framework for test lab design based on these drivers and enablers in different European countries.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere309
Number of pages9
JournalHealth Science Reports
Volume4
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2021

Keywords*

  • cost containment
  • health economics
  • health policy
  • health promotion
  • health service preventive
  • person-centred care
  • quality of care

Field of Science*

  • 3.3 Health sciences

Publication Type*

  • 1.1. Scientific article indexed in Web of Science and/or Scopus database

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