Data-gathering study on the common financial framework for the management of expenditure under Regulation 282/2014 : executive summary

Three generations of the EU's Public Health Programme have been implemented since 2003. For the next programming period (post 2020), a proposal for a future programme was developed to present the main strategic orientations. In this context, the European Commission-Directorate General for Health & Food Safety (DG SANTE) launched a data-gathering study on the common financial framework for the management of expenditure under Regulation 282/2014 in November 2017. Following a competitive bidding process, a consortium consisting of EY (Ernst & Young) and Open Evidence, was awarded the contract. The objective of this study was to provide data and data analysis to support the analysis of impacts of the proposed programme, in accordance with the Better Regulation Guidelines. As a separate but closely related objective, this study also sought to develop a detailed monitoring system including indicators for monitoring & evaluation based on relevant budgetary and policy indications made available. The scope of this study was mainly prospective, covering the assessment of the potential impact of the future Health Programme, as well as cost-effectiveness and EU Added Value. However, the assignment also had a retrospective component as it drew wherever possible on historical data and evidence of performance of past and in-going actions to support this prospective analysis. In line with the Better Regulations guidelines, the thematic scope of the study covered issues of cost-effectiveness and cost-efficiency, impacts and EU added-value. The study was focused on the actions supported by the Health Programme. Examination of cost-effectiveness and cost-efficiency thus did not include programme management tasks implemented by DG SANTE or CHAFEA. The study was undertaken from January to May 2018, following a methodological approach divided into three phases. The inception phase aimed to ensure common understanding of the objectives and approach and lay the methodological foundations of the study, as well as a first draft of the Intervention Logic of the future Health Programme. The data collection & analysis phase consisted of extensive desk research and field research activities, including deep dive reviews of 70 projects (approximately 160 documents reviewed), document review, text mining analysis, a programme of interviews and targeted e-survey consultations. On this basis, the baseline analysis was drawn up. The conclusions & reporting phase consisted of the modelling of expected impacts under the prioritisation of actions. On this basis, an assessment of scenarios based on cost-effectiveness criteria and EU Added Value was undertaken. This phase also included the formalization of the monitoring framework.