Keynote Speeches

Long-term care — World Bank

In September 2023, Ilaria was the main speaker at an online webinar on long-term care in the Netherlands, presented to esteemed representatives from the Polish Government (Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy), the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, and prominent Polish NGOs. The World Bank organized the webinar.

Here are some key takeaways from our webinar:

1️⃣    Shared-decision Making: It empowers patients and providers to make healthcare choices together, ensuring informed and personalized care.

2️⃣    Innovation is Vital: We explored innovative approaches and digital transformations to long-term care delivery, to help assist the medical professionals (but not replace them!).

3️⃣   Collaboration is Key: Collaboration between government agencies, NGOs, and the private sector is essential for creating a sustainable and effective long-term care system.

4️⃣    Less Institutionalization, More Care at Home: Shifting long-term care from institutions to home settings benefits patients by keeping them in familiar environments and is cost-effective for public finances.

5️⃣   Policy Matters: Policy decisions play a crucial role in shaping the future of long-term care. It’s vital to ensure policies are both flexible and responsive to evolving needs.

Health Innovation Summit — Health Hub Vienna

Ilaria was invited to join the Health Innovation Summit organized by the Health Hub Vienna in June 2023. She presented at the panel session on health financing and innovation. Here are some takeaways from her keynote speech:

 People are ready to use digital health services—the surge in the digital emancipation, particularly among old people, during the COVID-19 pandemic and the expansion of coverage to teleconsultations in most countries by now show the potential of digitalized health services to enhance access to health

 The exponential changes brought about by artificial intelligence (AI) in health can lead to personalized medicine, where the patient is at the real center and receives personalized preventative services, diagnoses, and treatment plans. How is the health sector responding to AI? And, how to balance the disruptive changes in health caused by the use of AI, data security, and privacy?

 Innovative financing mechanisms such as blended finance and impact investing pool resources from the private and public sectors. The focus of the private sector is often on strengthening the health system through the manufacturing and supply of healthcare products, but health equity receives much less interest from private investors. Public-Private Partnerships are not always a silver bullet to finance development projects in health, as some examples show. How to balance between the commercial motives of delivering health services and the achievement of universal health coverage?

 Innovative health financing mechanisms should be co-created and designed to be compatible with local health markets. Civil society organizations must be part of PPPs to make sure that the public interest is served. Always be mindful—are we serving the need or something else?

 Do innovations in health always lead to cost reductions? Inventions may not always increase net productivity. This is why it is important to know which goals we are serving when introducing and deploying innovations in health. Some may primarily enhance access to care or improve quality of life. Be clear on your intentions and goals.

Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care—Different Payment Models (2020)

On 1 October 2020, Ilaria was invited as a speaker to the Special Interest Group (SIG) International of the Royal Dutch Pharmacists Association (Koninklijke Nederlandse Maatschappij ter bevordering der Pharmacie, KNMP).

In response to rising health care costs, ageing population with increased multimorbidity, and avoidable hospitalizations due to adverse drug reactions (ADRs) the role of community pharmacists is becoming increasingly important to counsel patients, ensure a safer use of medicines, improve clinical outcomes, integrate with other health providers, and increase health education among patients.

Many countries face the challenge to better reward community pharmacists for their daily work. In the Netherlands, community pharmacists are remunerated on a fee-for-service basis that funds the number of prescriptions dispensed but does not reward quality.

Alternative payment methods that fund quality-linked interventions by pharmacists—think of patient counseling, improved medicines adherence, the provision of medicines in dose administration aids, etc.—are not yet widespread with few exceptions in North Carolina (USA) and Australia.

Ilaria’s presentation sheds light on alternative payment methods in community pharmacy such as pay-for-performance (P4P) that may reward structure, process, and outcomes with the ultimate goal to improve quality.

Policy Dialogue: Strategic Directions of Further Health System Development in the Republic of Moldova ( 2019)

The meeting was attended by the recently appointed Minister of Health, Labour and Social Protection Ms Viorica Dumbrăveanu,  State Secretaries, representatives of development partners, national and local managers of hospitals, primary care centers, mental health community centers and other health organizations.  Among the recommendations, a special focus was dedicated to financial protection and outpatient medicines as the main driver of financial hardship among all population quintiles.

Articles

Heine did publish a blog together with Johan Visser about a better selection of innovative medicines to be included in the lock system, the article about sluisgeneesmiddelen is in dutch.