All countries want to improve their health care systems. This is true whether they already have systems that deliver reasonable care to most of their population or whether they know that many of their citizens do not receive care that is acceptable by present day standards, or not at bearable cost. The recent paper, Global Principles for Better Healthcare, examines a range of different healthcare systems across the globe and offers a series of recommendations based on what works, and what doesn’t.

Edward Bramley-Harker’s talk, based on his paper, will examine the problems involved in improving health care systems; identify the issues that need to be addressed and draw on the experiences of others who have already tackled similar problems.

Date Wednesday 15 October 2003 Format 12:30-13:15 Cocktails 13:15-14:30 Lecture & Lunch Location Hotel Leopold Rue du Luxembourg 35 Brussels Registration If you would like to attend, please send an e-mail to mailto:Cécile Philippe. Please specify any dietary restrictions for the lunch menu.

Edward Bramley-Harker is Associate Director of NERA (National Economic Research Associates) in London. He leads NERA’s UK health care and pharmaceuticals practice. Working with both public and private sector clients, he has advised on a variety of issues including health sector reform, resource allocation, health care financing, pharmaceutical price regulation, and economic evaluation.

Recently, he has directed assignments to develop modelling tools to explore the impact of public policy changes on health system outputs-such as activity levels, expenditure, staffing requirements and waiting lists. He has also worked with the Department of Health, the Home Office and HM Customs and Excise in the UK on studies of the use of illicit drugs and drug treatment services.

Prior to joining NERA, Edward was an economist with the Department of Health. His work there included the allocation of resources to hospital and community health services, and the development of benchmarking tools and performance indicators for use by health authorities and hospitals. He has degrees from Nottingham (UK) and McGill (Canada) Universities .