Network presents the case for lung cancer care pathways at the European Health Management Conference

The Lung Cancer Policy Network showcased its recently published report Care pathways for lung cancer: building a foundation for optimal care at the 2024 European Health Management Association (EHMA) Conference, held 5–7 June in Bucharest.

The presentation, part of the conference’s policies and regulations track, explored the essential role care pathways play in delivering best-practice lung cancer care. It was delivered during a session titled ‘optimising healthcare delivery’, alongside presentations from five other speakers.

Jessica Hooper from the Network Secretariat provided background on the value of care pathways in alleviating the burden of lung cancer. Care pathways can help deliver a holistic and high-quality experience for all people with lung cancer, driving improvements in outcomes, optimising use of resources and reducing costs. To effectively realise this goal, the presentation concluded that policymakers need to support the implementation of evidence-based care pathways at the national level, underpinned by standardised guidance and flexibility for local application.

During the session, presenters had the opportunity to showcase different approaches to optimising healthcare delivery – for example, value-based healthcare dashboards – that have been used to inform policy and decision-making.

Session attendees were keen to discuss:

• how person-centred research is essential to understand the key challenges faced by patients and establish tailored interventions
• that the ethical implications of data collection and sharing must be fully elucidated to effectively inform healthcare policy
• the transition from budget-driven to value-driven healthcare facilities, and ways in which this may be achieved.

The annual EHMA conference brings together health managers and leaders, healthcare professionals, hospital managers, researchers, academics and policymakers. The theme for this year’s conference was ‘shaping and managing innovative health ecosystems’. Care pathways are a great example of how this may be achieved; they are an emerging tool increasingly implemented by health systems to help ensure a coordinated response, leading to improved experiences, outcomes and survival.

In other sessions, attendees heard from colleagues from Europe and beyond, who discussed innovations in health policy and management. Our key takeaways were:

• effective healthcare management is reliant on a resilient workforce, which can only be established through a multidisciplinary approach to education, training and decision-making
• a variety of innovative mechanisms are needed to ensure evidence-based policy development and effectively bridge the gap between research and policy
• carefully designed health financing policies are essential, and can help address a number of issues, including incentivised care coordination, improved quality of care and universal health coverage.

The Network was delighted to connect with colleagues at the conference, and we look forward to joining upcoming discussions – including those that will take place at the 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer in September.

In the meantime, please read the Network’s care pathways report and sign up to our newsletter for regular updates.