The commitment of Active Citizenship Network on cross-border healthcare

Over the years, Active Citizenship Network has been increasing its commitment to promotion and protection of citizens' right in cross border healthcare through the following activities:

• Daily activity: in Italy, with our Tribunal for Patients’ Rights and Citizen Advisory Centres on Health, we provide information, advice and assistance also to the citizens who travel abroad for treatment.
• Cittadinanzattiva has been the only Italian association involved as reviewer for the civic evaluation of the App “European Health Insurance Card” produced by the European Commission and DG SANCO in 2012.
• “Manifesto for the implementation of the Right of European Patients to make an informed choice”, drafted in 2013 with 31 Civic & Patient Associations coming from 13 EU Countries and 2 EU Networks.
• May 2013: “European coordination of patient associations and other stakeholders”, informal EU network coordinated by ACN of 31 Civic and Patient Associations and other stakeholder interested to work together for the implementation of the Directive, sharing information, good and bad practices, etc.
• European tour to talk about the Directive. Public debateswith National Institutions and patient associations to share the experience from several Countries.
• May 2013: “VII European Citizens' Rights Day: patients' involvement and Cross-Border Care”, attended by EU and National Institutions, 40 patient associations, healthcare professionals and stakeholders of EU networks.
• “Make them informed! Ask your State to inform citizens on EU health rights”. Online petition, signed by hundreds of EU citizens to ask their National Parliament to involve the Directive in their legislation.
• October 2013: Presentation to the Italian Institutions of the Report “Care Without Borders: is it possible now?”.
• October 2013: “The right to information and free choice in a European perspective. Patients' Rights Have No Borders”, a report with an updated state of the implementation of the Directive in 12 EU Countries and Civic Recommendations, presented also to the DGSANCO by a delegation of Active Citizenship Network (composed by ten Associations coming from eight countries).
• December 2015: MEPs Interest Group “European Patients' Rights and Cross-border Healthcare”, linked to the request submitted by 100 civic and patient organisations and sent to the EU Parliament in May 2015 to recognise officially the value of citizens’ initiatives.
• 2016-2017: European communication campaign “Patients’ rights have no borders”in 24 Member States.
• May 2016: “Patients’ rights have no borders…as well as risks!”event organized by ACN at the EU Parliament with the aim to encourage a better cooperation between National Contact Points and civic &  patient associations in order to guarantee a greater impact of the Directive 2011/24/EU.
• 2016-2017: European communication campaign “Patients’ rights have no borders”in 24 Member States
• March 2017: “Exploring areas and benefits of cooperation in cross-border healthcare to protect patients’ rights” event organized by ACN at the EU Parliament with the aim to share case histories and present the publication “Patients’ rights have no borders”.
• Feb 2018: "Cross-border healthcare and centers of excellence to enhance patients' rights: access, information and innovation". Event organized by ACN at the EU Parliament with the aim to advance to EU Institutions and relevant stakeholders the concrete proposal to encourage, for each ERN, the establishment of a multi-stakeholder group of interest, opened to all the actors already involved in the Cross-border healthcare and in the implementation of its Directive.
• October 2018: IBMT, the first Italian B2B on Medical Tourism. The event took place in Milan, Italy.  IBMT is an interactive workshop in which buyers and suppliers in the field of medical tourism are brought together in order to perform networking meetings and activities. Without a doubt, this kind of workshop represents the most efficient business event because all participants’ time and energies are spent for one-on-one meetings with really interested potential clients. Click here to download ACN’s presentation “IBMT - Patients’ rights have no borders. A civic perspective”.
• November 2018:  ACN supported and participated in the panel of the CBBA – Europe Annual Conference “Cross-border healthcare solutions: A Pan-European overview”. The Cross Border Benefits Alliance-Europe (CBBA-Europe) is a Brussels-based advocacy organization, aimed at promoting the creation and development of cross-border/pan-European employee benefit plans in Europe, including – but not limited to – pensions, healthcare, disability, long-term care, or programs for the well-being/wellness of people in the workplace and private life. Click here to download the agenda and ACN’s presentation “Patients’ rights have no borders:” A civic perspective”
• December 2018: "Enhancing Healthcare Cooperation in Cross-border Regions" Conference. Event organized by the European Commission on 4 December 2018 to present the results of a pioneering mapping study of successful cooperation projects and its toolkit for practitioners interested in setting up cross-border cooperation themselves.
• 2019: Active Citizenship Network is supporting the development of the thematic network "Healthcare in Cross-Border Regions", led and promoted by EUREGHA and Healthacross. The Thematic networks are collaborative network that bring together different stakeholder organisations to produce joint statements on health related developments. The network is hosted on the EU health policy platform and supported by DG SANTE. The “Healthcare in cross-border regions” thematic network aims to support the European Commission in its exercise of mapping and building cross-border and regional cooperation in healthcare through the identification of  crucial challenges and successful existing experiences to be scaled up. 
• Rare Disease Day 2019:
  Follow our engagement through social media activity, and read the interview with the Secretary General of Cittadinanzattiva (29 Feb. 2019) 

• 2019: On June 4^th, 2019 the European Court of Auditors (ECA) published a performance audit on EU action on cross‐border healthcare. In this context, ACN has been invited to the closed meeting organized by the ECA in order to discuss the results together with other relevant stakeholders. Indeed, has been recognized the importance of ACN commitment in the Cross-Border Healthcare field, also thanks to the European communication campaign “Patients’ rights have no borders”, carried out in 2016-2017 with the involvement of 31 associations in 24 countries, and the work of the “MEPs Interest Group “European Patients’ Rights & Cross-Border Healthcare”, established in 2015.
  To read the full report click here. To read the press article published with our data and statements (IT), please click here. To read the press release (IT), please click here.

• 2020 - Contribution with the European Health Parliament Interconnected Care Committee for the document “Recommendations by the Next Generation”, with particular attention on the "Pillar 1: Empowering Citizens to Benefit from Cross-Border Healthcare Opportunities"

• Manifesto for the right to personalized medicine (launched in Italy last July 2020): (IT - EN).
• January 2021: Read ACN feedback about the Public consultation on the proposal for a Regulation on "Serious cross-border health threats – stronger, more comprehensive rules".
• February 2021: Read ACN feedback about the Roadmap "Cross-border healthcare – evaluation of patients’ rights".
• March 2021: Publication in the international peer review Journal of Medical Research and Health Sciences (Volume 04 Issue 03 March 2021): Europe’s beating cancer plan & citizens’ engagement – The Manifesto for the right to personalized medicine for cancer patients
• June 2021: Publication in the international journal Focus On Medical Sciences Journal(29 June - Issue Vol. 7 No 1): ERNs Multi-Stakeholder Forum to Enhance Patients' Rights and to Enhance Cooperation on Cross-border Healthcare
• August 2021: Study to enhance the implementation of the Cross-border Healthcare Directive 2011/24/EU. Commissioned by the European Commission, Ecorys, Technopolis and Spark legal Network conducted a study to enhance the implementation of the Cross-Border Healthcare Directive 2011/24/EU to ensure patient rights in the EU. According to Article 6(1) of Directive 2011/24/EU, MSs shall ensure that the National Contact Points (NCPs) consult with patient organisations, healthcare providers and healthcare insurers on cross-border healthcare. The study aims to map the NCPs consultation arrangements with these key stakeholders.
  The Italian National Contact Point confirmed to have consultation arrangements with Cittadinanzattiva, invited to answer the online questionnaire. For more information, please click here. 

The above mentioned MEPs Interest Group "European Patients Rights and Cross border healthcare"within the EU Parliament (its second mandate started in 2019) is our main political achievement in this field at the EU level. In the official website you can find the list of MEPs involved, 100 endorsers PAGs and the activites realized.
During its first mandate (2014-2019), it was the first and only one MEPs Interest Group co-chaired by two of the eith Presidents of the political groups in the European Parliament.

The MEPs Interest Group "European Patients Rights and Cross border healthcare" provides high attention to the topic in the EU political agenda, trying:
1) to involve on the issue an high number of actors;
2) to reinforze the dialogue among civic society with the EU and national Institutions on the topic;
3) to avoid an auto-refenential approach of ERNs and NCPs.
4) to explore way to increase the protection of patients' right to access to CBHC.

The MEPs Interest Group "European Patients Rights and Cross border healthcare" was the political follow up of the multi annual EU project & Communication campaign: “Patients' rights have no borders”, realized in 24 Member State, with related publications:

• Patients’ rights have no borders: a civic assessment
• Patients’ rights have no borders”. A civic perspective 

Over the years, the MEPs Interest Group "European Patients Rights and Cross border healthcare" within the EU Parliament hosted several EU events led by Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network focused on Cross-Border Health Care issues:

• Cross-border healthcare and centers of excellence to enhance patients' rights: access, information and innovation;
• How to ensure treatments and the respect of patients’ time across europe? Focus on timely access to innovative medicines after the European Commission approval.
• Exploring areas and benefits of cooperation in cross-border healthcare to protect patients’ rights.
• Pain therapy and the degree of patient’s pain in the age of cross-border healthcare.
• Patients’ rights have no borders…as well as risks!

(Updated: September 2021)