EURopean wide Innovative Procurement of Health Innovation

Project Information

EURIPHI

Grant agreement ID: 825922

DOI

10.3030/825922

Project closed

EC signature date 8 December 2018

Start date 1 January 2019

End date 31 July 2020

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Health, demographic change and well-being

Total cost

€ 1 997 341,61

EU contribution

€ 1 997 341,20

Coordinated by

MEDTECH EUROPE
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EURIPHI (EURopean wide Innovative Procurement of Health Innovation)

Reporting period: 2019-01-01 to 2020-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The unquestionably needed reform of health and care systems in Europe requires the adoption of innovative solutions in a fast, effective, and secure way. One way forward is to rethink procurement policies and transform procurement practices to an approach that awards the value offered by innovative solutions. Value- Based Procurement (VBP) is an innovative procurement approach supporting patient-centric, safe, high quality and affordable health and care. Applying VBP leads to economic most advantageous purchasing by awarding a contract based on what citizens, patients, health and care systems, health and social care professionals and society at large value. It is a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach providing solutions to efficient and effective health and care provision that is of value to all. VBP also provides opportunities to address some of the existing key challenges of provider- supplier relationships. Value-based procurement therefore goes hand in hand with value-based care as purchasing decisions take into consideration how a product, solution, or service can best deliver the outcomes and experience of care being measured and reduce the total cost of care – rather than focusing exclusively on purchasing a specific product at the lowest possible price.

The overall aim of the Coordinating and Supporting Action EURIPHI (“European Innovative Procurement of Health Innovation”) was to contribute a change in innovation procurement practices in Europe by building out a common vision, developing guidance tools and enabling a sustainable Community of Practice fostering cooperation to introduce innovative solutions of value to address common unmet needs and shortcomings in current health and social care delivery.

EURIPHI partner organisations thus teamed up around a novel approach of Most Economically Advantageous Tendering Value- Based Procurement of Innovation Solutions (MEAT VBPPI) to build a foundation for future EU cross-border Value Based PPI/PCP. Innovative solutions were identified in the fields of integrated care as well as rapid diagnostic tools for infectious disease to guide preparation of future EU calls.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

EURIPHI established a sustainable cross-border European Community of Practice (“Value- Based CoP”) to foster the adoption and change of procurement practice towards value- based procurement practices across Europe. The community of practice facilitates cooperation amongst procurement bodies and their multidisciplinary teams. Relevant criteria and evaluations methods can be jointly defined, while local, awarding, decision-making, contracting is maintained.

Existing tools were adapted based upon the MEAT Value- Based procurement approach to the fields of integrated care and rapid diagnostics, and cross-border Value- Based PPI/PCP were tested to provide learning cases in the field of rapid diagnostics for infectious diseases and, new models of patient-centred integrated care.

Diagnosing Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) remains challenging. Although several guidelines exist, including the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and European Respiratory Society (ERS) guidelines, these are not fully aligned and are mainly based on clinical signs and symptoms rather than aiming to identify the causative pathogen. Despite the recent availability of rapid molecular diagnostics, culture remains the standard for species identification and subsequent Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST), but comes with a low specificity and a long time-to-result which makes it impractical for implementation in such guidelines, especially for initial treatment. Early confirmation of VAP however significantly enhances the appropriate management of the disease, reducing morbidity and mortality. EURIPHI therefore set out to identify the demand side from a clinical perspective and to match this with the currently available innovative diagnostic solutions.

A main objective of the EURIPHI project’s integrated care arm was to increase understanding and organise the demand side around a small set of Integrated Care Procurement Objectives (ICPOs) to address identified integrated care service delivery shortcomings. In addition, EURIPHI partners and other European public procurers were assisted in the application of the most economic advantageous tender (MEAT) methodology to procurement.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Responding to the need of providers and care delivery organisations, supportive legal guidance for cross-border PPI was developed. There is an explicit necessity to put the focus on “value” for innovative solutions and to make long term assessments of their integration into the care supplier’s organisation and processes. “Value based procurement processes”, including innovation, partnership aspects and collaboration between the industry and the health and social care sector as well as global and integrated solutions are preconised in the health and care sector. These elements were considered in the Guidance on Economic Most Advantageous procurement of Innovative Solutions (https://www.euriphi.eu/virtual-library/guidance-on-economic-most-advantageous-procurement-of-innovative-solutions/) to provide some guidelines and suggestions on how to apply “value based” and innovative procurement processes onto healthcare purchases.

The EURIPHI developed ‘Cross-border collaborative procurement model’ identifies three modalities enabling to maintain the ability for a local decision making by partners involved in a cross-border procurement project projects while benefitting of a valued cooperation:
• Full collaboration in the preparatory phase followed by the issue of individual public tenders by the participating organizations/partners (model 1);
• Full collaboration in the preparatory phase followed by the issue of a (single) joint public tender in which every participating organization/partner holds its dedicated lot. This lot is tailored to the specific needs of the organization and is awarded separately (model 2);
• Full collaboration in the preparatory phase followed by the issue of a (single) joint public tender resulting in the awarding of a framework agreement. Next, the local implementation of the framework agreement is executed by having specific contracts concluded between the individual participating organization/partner and the party to the framework agreement under local law (model 3).

EURIPHI also created a network of representatives of (regional) health authorities, policymakers, and payers who, in collaboration with other key stakeholders, will further prioritise investments and foster the deployment of Value Based PPI/PCP was successfully established. The network is supported by a permanent EURIPHI secretariat.
Addressing the clear need to continue to build the foundation and put forward enabling tools, education, professionalisation in the use of a value- based approaches and procuring innovative solutions, EURIPHI will continue to engage in initiatives and create a knowledge hub that provides access to reports in support of future cross-border value based innovation procurement. The hub will make tools available and will act as a platform for exchange. More information on EURIPHI post 2020 can be found on the website at https://www.euriphi.eu/virtual-library/post-2020-euriphi/.

Summary of adaptations for the VBP framework for RD

Summary of adaptations for the VBP framework for IC

EURIPHI Procurement model