Cross-border cooperation in healthcare

Healthcare is one of the sectors where the advantages of cross-border cooperation are most patent. The direct impacts are deeply felt by populations in cross-border regions. Sharing or jointly providing healthcare services on different sides of a border does, on the one hand, enhance access to healthcare and on the other hand, it allows improving effectiveness of the system by enlarging the area of influence of each facility.  

On 4 December, DG REGIO, via its Border Focal Point, and in cooperation with DG SANTE organised a major conference entitled "Enhancing Healthcare Cooperation in Cross-border Regions", with the objective to promote exactly this type of cooperation.

One of the major inputs to the conference was the presentation of a study that provides an inventory of cross-border cooperation projects in healthcare funded by the European budget through different programmes. It was very gratifying for all of us to see that INTERREG projects were in clear evidence. This study also includes a toolkit to support project development and implementation. For those organisations considering developing new projects of cooperation (or enhancing existing ones) this toolkit – or some of its components – may become a major source of support and inspiration.

The conference has also shown that cross-border cooperation in healthcare is high on the agenda. Representatives from the Commission (SANTE, REGIO and EMPL), from the European Parliament, from the Committee of the Regions and from the Benelux Union all voiced highly complementary messages.

For accessing the conference outputs: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/conferences/cbc_health

For accessing the study and the toolkit: https://www.crossborderhealthcare-conference.com/crossborder-healthcare/pages/Communicationkit