About: health services Archives

"Simply improving GDP and living standards itself does not improve or makes only very slow changes to peoples' assessment of their quality of life," says Eurofound's survey co-ordinator in an interview with EURACTIV.com.

Four years after its first survey, Eurofound is preparing its latest study on the quality of life in Europe, to see whether changes in public policies have affected citizens' lifestyles.

MEPs have rejected a specific EU legislation on health services, but urged the Commission to propose codification of the current case law on EU citizens' right to seek healthcare in other member states, with costs covered by their own health system.

As EU-US experts discussed potential areas for transatlantic co-operation on eHealth, the healthcare IT industry urged governments to pave the way for a definitive change in EU healthcare.

In a surprise vote, the Parliament's Internal Market Committee is calling on the Commission to come forward with a proposal for reintroducing health services into the Services Directive. 

Nearly half (41%) of Brussels-based opinion leaders believe that member states may share a common healthcare system in the long-term.

An expert panel report calling for more competition to improve efficiency and transparency of healthcare systems has received a cautious welcome from stakeholders.

A report presents government recommendations on how to invest taxpayers' money more effectively to improve the quality of health care and to ensure the financial sustainability of health systems.

The EU executive has launched a public consultation on the future EU framework for health services, to know where greater legal certainty is needed and how to support co-operation between national health systems.

Parliament tells the Commission to clearly distinguish services of 'general interest' from services of 'general economic interest' and to adopt legal rules accordingly.

As public and private healthcare were excluded from the services directive, the Commission has decided to set up a specific EU health services framework to guarantee cross-border access to health care.

In addition to promoting 'Health in all Policies', the Finnish Presidency is expected to hammer out political agreements on Health programme 2007-2013, medical devices and advanced therapies.

In a Communication on Social Services of General Interest (SSGI), the Commission has defined what it understands by the term and outlined its position. The paper does not deal with health services, nor does it contain any policy initiatives.