EXPH Report on Cross-border Cooperation

European Union policy in the field of health is aimed at complementing and supporting national health policies, encouraging cooperation between Member States (MS) and promoting coordination between their programmes. The Directive 2011 24 EU on the application of patients rights in cross-border health care aims to facilitate access to safe and high-quality cross-border health care and ensure patient mobility in the Union. The Expert Panel on Effective ways of Investing in Health was requested to identify areas which would potentially benefit from greater formal cross-border cooperation and collaboration in health care provision. This identification should focus on service configuration in border regions, but can also consider issues outside border regions.  In the opinion the Expert panel looks for areas where there is potential for successful co-operations as well as the existing and potential benefits of such co-operation. Furthermore, the Expert panel identifies obstacles to successful co-operation in health care and suggests priorities of actions which could be taken at EU level in order to help overcome some of these obstacles.