Session 1

Turning evidence into action

Health System Performance Assessment driving reforms

Organised by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection in collaboration with the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies

No country can learn or reform in isolation. As European health systems navigate turbulence and transition, the European Union Technical Support Instrument (TSI) helps to turn shared challenges into shared solutions, enabling Member States to jointly test reforms, identify shared bottlenecks, and transferable solutions.

Health System Performance Assessment (HSPA) is central to this effort, bringing together data across sectors to support evidence-based decision-making. This session presents three jointly developed “performance pathways” from Austria, Finland, and the Netherlands using the WHO/European Observatory HSPA framework. Each pathway addresses a shared priority: reducing low‑value care, strengthening primary care while ensuring equitable and appropriate hospital access, and securing sustainable, and effective long‑term care.

Together, they demonstrate how HSPA supports the translation of evidence into concrete policy reform – and what the European Health Union looks like in practice: finding solutions to structural health system challenges that can only be solved together.

Designed as an interactive exchange, the session actively engages participants in reflecting on and contributing to the development of these performance pathways. Participants leave not just with insights, but with actionable ideas and new connections across European health systems.

Speakers to be announced