2nd European Value-Based Procurement Conference: Partners for sustainable and high-quality healthcare
Posted on 01.12.2020
The event brought together European stakeholders to explore the potential of value-based innovation procurement for improving patient outcomes, innovating care delivery, and making healthcare systems more sustainable and affordable. The procurement organisations represented at the conference serve 3,300 institutions providing care, of which 2,200 hospitals.
With European healthcare systems coming under severe pressure, the switch from old transactional to new value-driven partnerships models is becoming more timely. The shift to a value-based approach will not only put patient benefits at the centre of purchasing decisions but also support collaboration across care pathways and unlock value-based healthcare. This discussion has been more relevant considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The event was organised by the Value-Based Procurement Community of Practice and supported by EHPPA, EUREGHA, and MedTech Europe.
High-level speakers and experts from different fields – procurement organisations, regional health authorities, the medical technology industry, and other parties interested and committed to value-based procurement – all joined forces to highlight the importance of introducing and integrating value in health and care decision-making.
Participants also had the unique opportunity to network with some of the pioneers in the procurement of innovations and innovative solutions using value-based procurement and value-based agreements across Europe. Early adopters from Denmark, the Netherlands, England, Wales, Spain, France and Switzerland presented their experiences in a posters exhibition of deep-dive cases and shared best practices on the application of value-based procurement.
From its three founding members, EHPPA, BCG and MedTech Europe, the audience heard about the mission and vision of the newly formalised VBP Community of Practice (VBP CoP) and were informed about the possibility to access the VBP CoP material online. To find more information about how to join it, visit the official page here.
Kjetil Istad, EHPPA Vice-president in charge of Value-Based Procurement, commented: “Value-based procurement is a new way of thinking about procurement. To foster trust for this new approach, an open dialogue between the suppliers and the healthcare sector is key. Dialogue is a win-win situation. It will contribute to develop the market, it will help develop the suppliers and public procurers, and the results will be in a better fit with the clinicians and ultimately the patient.”
Furthermore, EUREGHA President, Nick Batey said “In responding to the pandemic, we have seen health systems and organisations introduce innovative approaches at a pace undreamt of before the pandemic. As we move into recovery, our challenge is to build upon this and resist the tendency to go back to the way things were. Value-based procurement offers us real opportunities to improve, not just within our health systems but also in our wider economies.”
MedTech Europe CEO, Serge Bernasconi also expressed his views alongside the conference: “COVID-19 has added pressure on already stressed healthcare systems. This is why it is important to support a change towards a buyer-supplier partnership approach guided by value-based procurement which can bring the economically most advantageous solutions to these challenges. As an industry, we are committed more than ever to foster this shift to respond to the needs of patients, society and healthcare systems”. Mr Bernasconi continued “We are glad to see how, year after year, this Value-Based Procurement Community keeps growing and structural changes start happy and we look forward this to become a standard in and by Europe.”
The Value-Based Procurement Conference will be back on 7 December 2021 for a third edition.