Valuable insight into the cost and quality of health care (II)
The international conference COST AND QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE - An integrated vision & solutions for long-term care, organized by Tarus Media at Bucharest, on March 30-31, 2012, proved to be a real success. It provided valuable insight into the cost and quality of health care, and it was an occasion to establish a forum for debates, exchanges of important ideas and useful suggestions.
Decision-makers, remarkable specialists, well-known public health practitioners, and representatives of patients gathered to debate the current state of the quality of health care.
Dr Dana Farcasanu, Executive President, Center for Health Policies and Services, presented the findings of a study on the evaluation of structure and provision of primary care in Romania. According to the study, two thirds of the Romanian patients have to bear copayments regarding the medicines prescribed by their GP, and one in five Romanians doesn't see the doctor because they can't afford the medicines they need or the visit to the doctor.
Europe should focus on value not cost and secure early patient access to new therapies; assessment of the value of innovative medicines must be done with the goal of better healthcare and not with the goal of reducing or delaying access to them – pointed out Makis Papataxiarchis, Managing Director at Janssen Romania.
Iulian Petre, Executive Director at UNOPA (National Union of the HIV/SIDA Affected People Organisations), approached the topic of the access to treatment of seropositive patients in Romania and stated that there are insufficient funds allocated to the HIV programme.
Dr Rosella Hermens, Senior researcher at the Scientific Institute for Quality of Health Care, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands, made a presentation about the instruments for measuring the quality of care of cancer patients. Valid and reliable quality indicators are extremely important to measure performance, although outcomes are not only influenced by the quality of the care process but also by the patient itself (disease severity and co-morbidity).