International strategic agenda 2022/2023 gives overview of National Health Care Institute’s international activities
The National Healthcare Institute participates in an increasing number of international activities. The international strategic agenda (ISA) 2022/2023 helps to maintain focus on these international activities and to provide stakeholders with an overview of our international activities in 2022 and 2023.
Host of HTAi Annual Meeting 2022
Most of our international activities in the forthcoming years are related to our main task: advising on care covered by the basic healthcare insurance package in the Netherlands. Therefore we are involved in a broad range of activities that gather and share international knowledge and best practices in the field of healthcare technology assessment. The National Health Care Institute is for example the local host organization of the Health Technology Assessment international (HTAi) Annual Meeting 2022, the largest and most prestigious international conference solely focusing on HTAi.
Pricing of medicines priority in health care package management
Another priority in our international activities related to our role as health care package manager, is the pricing of medicines. Pharmaceutical spending per capita in the Netherlands and in other countries is rising due to many new drugs coming onto the market, often at high prices. This is a threat to the affordability of health care in the Netherlands and other countries. Preserving an affordable health care system makes collaboration with other international counterparts crucial, as we are stronger if we stand together, particularly as most pharmaceutical companies are global. Also, the market authorization of new medicines is assessed by the European Medicines Agency, making this a European matter rather than a national one.
4 principles of Appropriate care
All our international activities and tasks in 2022/2023 are in line with our strategic priority towards appropriate care. This is healthcare that follows 4 principles which we believe help to maintain the quality, accessibility and affordability of health care in the Netherlands. These 4 principles are:
- Appropriate care is value-driven: care should be delivered efficiently and effectively, with the aim of making gains that are relevant to the patient in terms of health and functioning, at a fair price.
- Appropriate care is created together with and jointly around the patient: the ability of the patient is central to joint decision-making, utilizing multidisciplinary expertise and viewed in the social context of the patient.
- Appropriate care is the right care in the right place: (more expensive) care is prevented, care is moved and organized around people, and regular care is replaced with smart care and eHealth if possible.
- Appropriate care is about health rather than disease: all government policy focuses on health promotion and reduction of health inequalities (health in all policies), and on one’s own perceived health and functioning (positive health), and disease and more demanding care should be prevented (prevention).
The principles have been adopted as guidance for Dutch health care design by the Dutch government and function as the strategic foundation for all our activities in the forthcoming years, both national and international in 2022/2023.