Cox Report on EU health care finance published

A year-long study of the future of European health care has been presented to the European Commission. The document, titled: Financing Sustainable Healthcare in Europe, brings together experts from the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, academic centers the INSEAD and the London School of Economics and was supported in partnership by the Luxembourg Ministry of Health, Finland's Innovation Fund Sitra and global drug giant Pfizer. The report focuses on four critical elements: equity and efficiency; value for money in health care; patient empowerment and efficient health outcomes; and sustainable health financing in southeast Europe.

Pat Cox, a former President of the European Parliament who also chaired the study's team of experts, expressed the rationale of the report as "to sustain and improve health care quality in Europe, we need to focus as much on spending wisely as on spending more."

The Cox Report's recommendations address the need for equitable access to health care while aiming to improve efficiency by four avenues: a controlled increase in patient cost-sharing; increasing the competitive bidding for hospital contracts; greater vertical coordination and integration of health services contracts; and competition in the provision of insurance to groups of patients.