Ladies and Gentlemen!
On behalf of CEESTAHC we invite you heartily to take part in:

The Symposium took place in Krakow on October 10th and 11th, 2011 in Qubus Hotel.

Final Programme 2011 (1 MB)

The Symposium, organised for the sixth time, is a unique educational initiative for participants from Poland and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Participation in the Symposium provides an opportunity to meet experts from all over the world and freely exchange opinions with representatives of ministries, insurers and payers, as well as those of European medical and business communities. In addition, the Symposium for the first time became a forum for the presentation of HTA development and experience in this field in CEE countries.

This year’s title – "East meeting West" – underlines international character of the Symposium and a trend towards increasing geographical diversity observed during five editions organised till now. Our guests from distant lands – East as well as West in its wide sense, including the "old" European Union, the United States and Australia, made it possible to have a close look at development and changes in HTA that in recent years took place in Central and Eastern Europe, in the context of parallel changes observed all over the world. This may allow for identification of the most important differences and common features of health care systems in specific countries. Examples of solutions applied in other countries may also stimulate reflection on directions of further development. Thus, perhaps, we may be able to take advantage of experience gathered in Western countries and give a chance for development of new, better solutions for countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Another fact focusing our attention on relations between East and West is the Presidency in the Council of the European Union, which Poland assumed on July 1st, 2011. As a consequence, Poland became the initiator and host for a number of significant events and is engaged in many key areas of Union activity. According to the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Union "aims at improvement of public health, prevention of human diseases and ailments and removal of threats to human health". This strategy for health is based on a number of activities, including increased international cooperation, improved exchange of evidence-based information and solid knowledge as well as coordination and support for the process of decision-making at the level of specific countries. These activities are supported by EU by means of a series of programmes aimed at development of comprehensive systems of health-related information in the European Union. Other objectives are to ensure safety and high-quality health care for patients in view of the EU Directive on cross-border health care.

The scope of the 6th EBHC Symposium will include the issue of international cooperation between European HTA Agencies (EUnetHTA). Among other problems we will present an ongoing project – the EUnetHTA Joint Action 2010-2012. Continuous information exchange between interested parties engaged in the project makes it possible to meet continuously changing demands of "producers" and users of HTA reports all over Europe.