Commission on Innovation and Transformation of the Healthcare System kicks off to boost innovation in the sector

The Departmental Commission on Innovation and Transformation of the Healthcare System was established this week in its first plenary session to validate the Ministry of Health’s strategy to capture, use and execute European funds to drive innovation in health and its application in the healthcare system. 

In addition to coordinating the strategy for using funds from Next Generation EU (NGEU) in health and under the framework of the Next Generation Catalonia project, as well as the funds from ERDF 2021-2027 and the current European framework program, as key instruments for adopting innovation and transforming the healthcare system, the Commission also has the following functions:

• Establishing a clear, consensual model for promoting innovation in the health system.
   
• Facilitating highly complex public-private collaboration projects and innovation partnerships clearly geared towards generating value.
   
• Fostering the roll-out of innovations in processes and services generated by the healthcare system.
   
• Defining a strategy for using, scheduling and executing projects through various instruments for public procurement of innovation, or other alternative instruments for adopting innovation and bringing about transformation in the healthcare system, along with the Catalan Health Service, AQuAS and SISCAT members.
   
• Ensuring proper coordination of the various instruments available to promote and adopt innovation in the SISCAT arena.
   

Catalan Minister of Health Josep Maria Argimon presided the meeting, which also included Meritxell Masó, secretary general of the Department; Gemma Craywinckel, director of the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut); Ivan Planas, deputy director of CatSalut; Pol Pérez, director of the CatSalut Information Systems Department; Xavier Bayona, director of AQuAS; and Ramon Maspons, strategic chair of the Commission. Biocat CEO Robert Fabregat also attended with the rest of the members appointed by the minister.

Photo of the first session of the Commission on Innovation and Transformation of the Healthcare System, on October 3, 2022. Photo from the Catalan Ministry of Health​.
 

In this first session, the Commission also highlighted the Department’s international strategy on innovation and transformation in health. Because changes in the regulatory frameworks -regarding medical devices, in vitro diagnostics and artificial intelligence- and the creation of the European Health Data Space will be key in the coming years.

Biocat to coordinate innovation fast track

The Commission, led by the Minister of Health, will set up six workgroups: international strategy, value-based procurement, innovative experiences, primary care, moonshot projects and innovation fast track, projects that are expected to last between 15 and 20 years.

Biocat will be in charge of coordinating this final workgroup, the “innovation fast track”, which aims to design and agree on the circuits and instruments needed to promote innovation and make adoption mechanisms more agile in order to transform the healthcare system, with a clear focus on generating value and improving people’s health and wellbeing.

The first meeting of this subcommittee will take place this October, with the members introducing themselves and designing the roadmap to accelerate the development and implementation of technology in the system in a flexible, agile manner.