On 11th and 12th March 2008 the Steering Group hosted a seminar at Lake Bled, Slovenia to discuss the two reports in preparation, on:

• Managing chronic diseases in Europe: the resource implications of future care development, and
• The role of health technology assessment (HTA) in healthcare decision-making.

A small group of invited experts heard and commented on the early drafts of these studies. The Slovenian Ministry of Health, Chair of the EU Health Council, was represented at a senior level and other distinguished experts of the Slovenian and European policy community were also present.

The discussion of work-in-progress at this seminar will enable the reports to:

• benefit from the guidance and comments of the Slovenian authorities as Chairs of the EU Health Council;
• are able to complement agreed approaches or work already underway at European level and in the Member States in their fields, and
• take account of developments so that, when produced in October 2008, they provide a clear contribution to the future of chronic disease management and the use of Health Technology Assessment in Europe.

The seminar’s programme included the following presentations:

• Managing Chronic Disease in Europe – Resource Implications of Future Care Development
  Presented by Dr. Prof. Med. Reinhard Busse, Berlin University of Technology
  [ CDMforwebsite031.ppt ]
• The Role of HTA in Health Care Decision-Making
  Presented by Dr. Ulf Persson, Swedish Institute of Health Economics
  [ HTAforweb0324.ppt ]
• Slovenian National Priorities
  Presented by Dr. Robert Medved, Slovenian Ministry of Health
  [ SLOVpriorities.ppt ]
• Challenges of Chronic Diseases in the Ukraine
  Presented by Dr. Igor Oilynyk, World Bank
  [ WorldBankSLOV.ppt ]
• Update on DG INFSO activities in eHe@lth
  Presented by Michael Palmer, European Commission: DG Information and Media
  [ DGInformationSLOV.ppt ]

The Steering Group is grateful to:
The Ministry of Health of Slovenia
for their support with the seminar in Slovenia
The seminar is supported by the project’s founding partner and sponsor since 2005, Pfizer, Inc.