The Executive Director of ARPharM delivered the "Evolution of Access to Health in Bulgaria over the last decade" presentation at the ISPOR Bulgaria chapter and ISPOR CEE Chapter 11th Adriatic Congress on Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research with Focus on CEE in Sofia.

20 April 2023, Sofia

The Executive Director of ARPharM delivered the "Evolution of Access to Health in Bulgaria over the last decade" presentation at the ISPOR Bulgaria chapter and ISPOR CEE Chapter 11th Adriatic Congress on Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research with Focus on CEE in Sofia.

In the past decade, access to healthcare in Bulgaria undoubtedly has improved. Public funding has doubled but remains significantly lower than the EU average. Out-of-pocket payments are quite high. The number of hospital beds, outpatient centers, medical labs and doctors has increased. However, medical care remains unevenly distributed in the country and there is a severe shortage of nurses. Prevention and screening remain at a very low level.Access to innovative pharmaceutical treatment has also improved. Public funding of pharmaceuticals has more than doubled but also dropped as a percentage of total public health spending due to growing industry's payback. Bulgaria provides access to only 42 % of the new drugs authorized by EMA between 2014 and 2020 with a delay of more than 2 years following marketing authorization.While the age-standardized death rate has dropped, life expectancy remains the lowest in EU and treatable mortality is double the EU average.

Despite significant improvement Bulgarian healthcare needs a comprehensive strategy for increased public investment to reach at least average EU levels. The serious demographic challenges the country faces calls for active prevention and screening campaigns, early diagnosis and use of innovative pharmaceutical treatments.

The challenges facing EU member states in the implementation of the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, the possibility of applying a single European framework for the assessment of health technologies, the importance of results-based health care, etc. topics were among the main ones represented in the three-day program of the event, organized by ISPOR Bulgaria and ISPOR Central and Eastern Europe.The event was held in the period April 20-22, 2023 at the Millennium Grand Hotel, Sofia, gathering in one place more than 80 experts in the field of medicine, pharmacoeconomics, health analysis and other from the Central and Eastern Europe region. 

"Evolution of Access to Health in Bulgaria over the last decade"