About this learning event

With the Covid-19 outburst, health care reforms became increasingly important in SEE, causing additional fiscal challenges. Since public health care spending pressures are expected to intensify further as a combination of technological advances and demographic factors, constraining its growth will be an important pillar of fiscal consolidation strategies. On the other hand, improving the accessibility and quality of health care services is an equally important pressure. As a result, health care reforms have also been introduced as a priority area of the Economic Reform Programmes (ERPs) of EU candidates and potential candidates. 

This workshop will evaluate the implications of health care reforms to the achievement of countries’ overall fiscal objectives. It will assess possible tools for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the public health care spending by introducing health care structural reforms in the ERP. Participants will learn how to best approach to the design and sequencing of structural reforms in health care area to ensure they adequately contribute to addressing the identified obstacles to competitiveness and inclusive growth, while also contributing to fiscal sustainability. Participants will review examples of structural reforms in health care area outlined in different ERPs, which will give them the opportunity to reflect on and explore possible SR implementation options. Through practical exercises, the participants will learn in depth how to cost and budget structural reforms in health care area, in line with the Costing Guidance. Such hands-on examples will directly strengthen participants knowledge and capacities to prepare structural reforms for the next ERP in their country.

Who should attend

Invited to attend are the officials from the Western Balkans and Turkiye involved in preparation of the ERP and structural reforms in the area of health care, outlined in this document. These include:

• Members of the ERP preparation working group involved in preparation of SRs in health care area
• Officials working in policy, finance and IPA departments of line ministries and other agencies with the mandate in health care area
• Officials from ministries of finance managing health sector budgets
• Policy planning experts from Government’s policy coordination body and/or Prime Minister’s office
• National ERP Coordinator, Coordinator for the ERP Chapter 5, and their Teams.

Public officials from other CEF constituency countries working in the policy planning area are also welcome to apply.

Lecturing Experts 

• Tijana Stanković —  CEF Expert & Former ERP Coordinator in Montenegro 
• Silvana Mojsovska — CEF Expert & Professor at the Institute of Economics, North Macedonia
• Saša Jazbec — CEF Expert & State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance of Slovenia 
• Mitja Čok — Professor of Public Finance at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia 

 

Practical information

• Interested participants are invited to apply by 17.01.2023. Participants who need visa, are invited to submit their application as soon as possible. 
• Workshop will take place face-to-face in Ljubljana, Slovenia with limited number of participants
• Flights, transfers and accommodation in Slovenia, and meals during the event will be fully funded for up to three selected officials per FISR2 beneficiary country
• Additional relevant participants will be accepted as self-funded
• Event will be delivered in English language and translation will not be provided
• It will offer welcoming, interactive and people-centred learning methods, that stimulate knowledge absorption
• Upon the successful completion of this event, participants will receive a certificate
• No participation fee will be charged.

Partners

This event is delivered as part of the EU-funded multi-beneficiary project “Structural Reforms Better Integrated Within Fiscal Frameworks” (FISR2) implemented by the CEF.