Healthcare Quality background and concept According to The Treaty of Lisbon (Title XIV, Article 168), Member States hold their independence in the healthcare area. However, it states that: ‘The Union shall, in particular, encourage cooperation between the Member States to improve the complementarity of their health services in cross-border areas…’ whereby ‘The Commission may, in close contact with the Member States, take any useful initiative to promote such coordination, in particular initiatives aiming at the establishment of guidelines and indicators, the organisation of exchange of best practice, and the preparation of the necessary elements for periodic monitoring and evaluation…’. In this remit and in close collaboration with Member States, the European Commission considered the development of a set of common benchmarking systems for various diseases and aspects of care as an appropriate tool to ensure that sustainable, effective and safe European health systems are in place. Such a harmonised and coordinated approach is even more important in the context of increasing patients’ mobility among countries. The JRC started its activity in the healthcare quality field by applying this concept to breast cancer care. In 2012, the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers appointed the JRC the task of coordinating the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer (ECIBC). If this concept proves to be successful, the JRC will provide support for its application to other diseases and healthcare services. Citizens are at the centre of Healthcare Quality team activities. Evidence-based quality guidelines for healthcare services will ensure that patients receive the most effective and safest services, while allowing containment of healthcare costs. In this regard, guidelines will consider key issues that affect patients (e.g. quality of life, satisfaction with the services received). In addition, the provision of complete and balanced information will be a mandatory requirement, as this will facilitate truly informed decisions by patients. Useful links The functional relationship between the guidelines and the quality assurance scheme ensuring quality in healthcare can be better clarified by the image below: Guidelines European Commission– Public Health European Commission– Healthcare quality indicators European Commission– eHealth policy European Commission– Internal market for products European Co-operation for Accreditation (EA) European Public Health Association (EUPHA) European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) European Regional and Local Health Authorities (EUREGHA) European Network for Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA) European Union Network for Patient Safety and Quality of Care (PaSQ) World Health Organizaton Regional Office for Europe– Health systems National Guideline Clearinghouse (USDHHS – AHRQ) National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guidelines International Network (G-I-N) Developing and Evaluating Communication Strategies to Support Informed Decisions and Practice Based on Evidence (DECIDE) GRADE working group Deepening our understanding of quality improvement in Europe (DUQuE) International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) European Society for Quality in Healthcare (ESQH) Systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate healthcare [and support policy makers]. Evidence-based guidelines are essential for the QA Scheme Quality Assurance Scheme The QA scheme monitors and enhances guidelines implementation Quality requirements for clinical aspects should correspond to key recommendations from guidelines, supported by the best available evidence. Via E. Fermi 2749 • 21027 Ispra (VA) • Italy Tel.: +39 0332 78 9861 • [email protected] https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/institutes/ihcp © European Union, 2015 • JRC94603 European Commission • Joint Research Centre (JRC) Institute for Health and Consumer Protection Public Health Policy Support