Key components of international and European governance for quality of care

Abstract The legal status and binding nature of various international governance and guidance instruments to foster and support quality strategies in European countries differs substantially. This presentation introduces and discusses the four main elements of an integrated international governance framework for quality in health care: i) raising political awareness of the relevance of health care quality and creating a common vision on how to improve it; ii) implementing this vision into actual policy frameworks by sharing experience and practice between countries; iii) developing and providing standards and models (voluntary or mandatory) that can be transposed into national policy; iv) measuring, assessing and comparing quality by developing better information, better indicators and methodologies as well as dissemination strategies. The presentation will also focus on how quality in health care is addressed through EU policy, first through EU provisions and policies that are meant to ensure free movement of citizens and goods and establish an internal market, and by means of more horizontal and generic EU policies on quality and safety that stem from the mandate to support, coordinate or supplement national policies. It will further highlight how EU integration and policy touch upon quality in health care and how the approach has evolved over time.