The European Commission and the Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health (EXPH) launched from 24 February until 13 April 2015 a public consultation on the preliminary opinion on Competition among Health Care Providers – Investigating Policy Options in the European Union.

The opinion addresses the role of competition among health care providers as an instrument to improve efficiency in the use of health system resources. As an instrument, the use of competition among health care providers needs to be measured against the different objectives of health systems. The opinion looks into the conditions that need to be fulfilled to have an effective competition.

Submissions received during the public consultation were carefully examined by the EXPH and, when relevant, taken into account in the final opinion.