Cancer care decision-makers have a choice to make: either to continue with cancer care as we know it, caring for more and more people with the same or fewer resources with little regard for ustainability of any kind, or to innovate, which will free up resources for more sustainable care.
The good news is that there are five trends which offer real possibilities for redesigning cancer care, to make it more effective,efficient and sustainable:
- Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
- Digital Health & Digital Medicine
- Precision Medicine & Biomarker Testing
- Curative & Capacity extending therapies
- Out-of-hospital care
These five trends hold enormous potential for redesigning cancer care and meeting the ambition of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. This is demonstrated by a wealth of examples of innovations, implemented at national or hospital level and across all steps of the cancer care pathway. In this report, 30 examples are highlighted, to show how innovative cancer care is not only needed, but also realistic and achievable within budget constraints.
We call upon healthcare decision-makers to innovate for sustainable cancer care, so that we can continue to put cancer patients and outcomes first.
Our plea to healthcare decision-makers is to make five commitments which allow for redesigning cancer care. Together, these five commitments can create an environment to find, implement and deliver the urgently needed innovations to transform cancer care for the benefit of people, prosperity, and the planet:
- Cancer care policies reflect a long-term ambition to continue to put patients and outcomes first, through a focus on innovation and sustainability rather than simply continuation and cost containment.
- Long-term funding programs, instruments and initiatives at European and national level ensure the delivery of investments required to make the necessary fundamental changes in cancer care.
- Robust data and analytics on patient needs, outcomes, experiences, costs and efficiency are made available to healthcare decisionmakers and innovators to facilitate evidencebased decision-making on implementing innovations.
- Cancer care reimbursement is redirected from a short-term focus on volume, to a long-term focus on value, efficiency and sustainability.
- Innovation networks allow for best practice sharing and ensure a clear progression pathway towards wider implementation.
This report was commissioned and financed by the EFPIA Oncology Platform.
This report is explicitly endorsed by
the following organisations:
- Acute Leukemia Advocates Network (ALAN)
- Digestive Cancers Europe
- All.Can
- InvestNL
- Technical University Delft, the Netherlands
- EIT Health
- Europa Uomo
- European Cancer Patient Coalition
- European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations (EFPIA)
- Evita Hereditary Cancers
- Myeloma Patients Europe
- European Association for Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP)
- Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands
