A survey of senior healthcare policy makers and advisors across the European Union shows widespread support for an increase in Early Health initiatives such as prevention, screening and early diagnosis, but not at the expense of current healthcare budgets allocated for treatment.
The findings indicate a general consensus that Early Health initiatives should increase as part of a long-term plan to reduce the cost burden of treating disease in an ageing population and reduce suffering from chronic disease. However, respondents identified challenges that could deter investment.
Current primary challenges to changing the imbalance include: the need for greater evidence of the economic and social impact of Early Health programmes, competing public budgets and competition within the total healthcare budget, and short political mandates making longterm targets in Early Health politically less attractive.
“We commissioned this survey to obtain a snapshot of the latest health policy thinking across Europe and to help drive the necessary discussion and debate to implement Early Health initiatives,” said Lisa Kennedy, head of healthcare economics, GE Healthcare.
“It is encouraging to hear so many health policy makers support the concept that Early Health should be seen as an investment to achieve long-term health and socio-economic benefits and not just as a cost.”
