Today, the Commission published a report by the EU Expert Group on Health Systems Performance Assessment (HSPA) titled “Mapping metrics of health promotion and disease prevention for health system performance assessment”.
The report examines which indicators are used by EU Member States to collect data on disease prevention and health promotion as part of their national health system performance assessment frameworks.
The report found that the most commonly used indicators to measure prevention activities include cancer screening and vaccination coverage, but some countries also look at lifestyle and risk factors as well as indicators which go beyond the health system such as education or other socio-economic determinants. In terms of data sources, national sources predominated, but also internationally standardised surveys were used. The HSPA Expert Group members also selected several topics of specific interest which were developed as case studies. These were health literacy, mental health metrics, and Austria’s health promotion strategy. The Expert Group also met with stakeholders to look at additional best practices, for instance on social prescribing. The report aims to support Member States in better understanding and strengthening their work in the field of health promotion and disease prevention and how it can be embedded in their respective national health system performance assessment frameworks.
EU Expert Group on Health Systems Performance Assessment
In 2014, the European Commission set up an Expert Group on Health Systems Performance Assessment to provide EU countries with a forum to exchange experiences in this field and to support national policymakers by identifying tools and methodologies to develop HSPA. The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are observers and contribute to the work of the Expert Group. Since July 2022, the Expert Group has an extended mandate which also serves as a forum to discuss and promote strategic innovative approaches to strengthening health systems.
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