We care
PRECURSOR TO COST-CARES Funded by the EU 7th framework program, WE CARE co-ordinated the development of an R&D roadmap to deliver high quality, affordable Healthcare to all EU citizens. The roadmap was published in the Lancet.
WE CARE
The project ran for two years from September 2013 to 2015, was coordinated by Gothenburg University, and included several European research institutes, businesses and non-profit organisations. The project partners carried out the project work during a series of interactive workshops followed by a concluding international consensus conference. The project culminated in an R&D Roadmap. Inger Ekman, Senior Professor at the Department of Health and Care Sciences former GPCC Centre Director co-ordinated the project.
ORGANISING PARTNERS
• University of Gothenburg
• Stichting VU-VUmc
• IMEC
• IBM Israel
• Imperial College
• European Patients Forum
• Berlin University of Technology
ABOUT THE PROJECT
CHALLENGE
EU-wide there is a clear and urgent need to curb healthcare costs. Healthcare spending in the five largest economies of EU grew 27% from 2005 to 2010. The situation is equally alarming in other EU member states. The societal and economic impact of this trend is enormous, jeopardizing the affordability and accessibility of healthcare to all EU Citizens.
MISSION The EU invited the WE CARE consortium to coordinate the development of a new Strategic plan and R&D Roadmap on cost containment of healthcare with maintained or even improved quality.
IMPLEMENTATION
A series of workshops were held between April and October 2014 to explore the gaps in the present EU-R&D research program and to inventory ideas for the R&D Roadmap. In a multidisciplinary environment different options were explored, for example: potentials for increased patient involvement in treatment decisions; information technology’s role in reducing Healthcare costs, and design of reimbursement systems that encourage quality and reduce COSTs.
In 2015 an international conference was held in Gothenburg to discuss and synthesize the results of the workshops, and to finalize the new Strategy Plan and R&D Road Map for the future EU HEALTH R&D program. Read more about the conference here.
During the course of the project, the general public were able to post and comment ideas in the Forum, stay up-dated with the latest developments in WE CARE, and interact with key players in the European healthcare sector.
PUBLICATIONS AND ARTICLES
FINAL REPORT: Download the final report on this page.
Blog in BMJ: Karl Swedberg and Inger Ekman on person centred care in Europe, BMJ Opinion, 20150210.
We Care Road Map in The Lancet: Health-care improvements in a financially constrained Environment. Inger Ekman, et al. (2016) The Lancet , Volume 387 , Issue 10019 , 646 – 647.