Health Care Reforms as a Priority Area in Economic Reform Programmes
Given that health care reforms continue to pose a significant fiscal challenge in the Western Balkans and Türkiye, it is understandable that incorporating them into the Economic Reform Programmes (ERPs) has become a priority since 2020. Accordingly, we remain committed to providing ongoing support to EU candidates and potential candidates in the strengthening their capacities to plan, sequence, cost, and budget health care structural reforms.
During the recent “Managing Health Care Structural Reforms” workshop, we were pleased to welcome public officials from ministries of health, ministries of finance, and other relevant institutions to review examples of health care structural reforms outlined in different ERPs, and to reflect on possible implementation options for these reforms.
Gathered participants from six countries, assessed this workshop was a valuable forum for the exchange of country experiences, and their latest approaches and practices for effectively addressing the complex and challenging issues associated with health care reforms. Participants agreed that peer learning about best practices and different country experiences in planning and implementing structural reforms in the health care area was a unique benefit of this regional event. Comments such as “We heard concrete experiences and learned new ways and tools to improve our work.” and “ I learned a lot about the ERP, how to prioritize the structural reform measures and cost them.” further support this conclusion. The event was concluded with the agreement to continue providing the space for regional discussions about sector specific structural reforms, as such exchange provide insights into valuable pragmatic ideas and peers’ contacts. Gathered participants we invited to join the Network of Regional Experts of Structural Reforms.
The “Managing Health Care Structural Reforms” workshop was delivered on February 15-17, 2023 in Ljubljana. It was delivered as part of the multi-beneficiary capacity development project “Structural Reforms Better Integrated Within Fiscal Frameworks” (FISR2) funded by the European Union.