Session (CTI)

Issue: Over 3 billion people today are living with chronic disease, rare disease and cancer – this already significant burden is set to increase further as populations age. Robust evidence shows that avoidable hospitalisations represent both a major cost driver and a signal of upstream system failure. They reflect gaps in prevention, early diagnosis, continuity of care, and optimal use of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT), making them a powerful indicator of primary care performance and overall system effectiveness. This panel will highlight the significant impact of NCD-related avoidable hospitalisations and explore the opportunities and policy levers for health systems to address these through proactive, integrated, and outcomes-focused care. Overview: Andreas Heddini will introduce how addressing avoidable hospitalisations can drive care pathway transformation and deliver benefits for patients, health systems and the wider economy. This will be supported by findings from a new study demonstrating the impact of GDMT optimisation on outcomes and costs (10 minutes). Prof York Zöllner will examine the economic burden of rising NCD-related avoidable hospitalisations, and how health systems can use this metric to identify inefficiencies, strengthen accountability, and improve outcomes (10 minutes). Penilla Gunther will provide pragmatic and realistic contextual considerations of how effective policy options can be implemented to improve health system outcomes. (10 minutes) Dr Richard Russell will provide frontline operational perspective on how to prevent avoidable hospitalisations (e.g. through increasing GDMT uptake), outlining challenges and identifying practical solutions to improve patient care and improving strain on healthcare workforce. (10 minutes) A moderated discussion will engage panellists and the audience on implementation, risks, and policy implications (20 minutes). Stakeholders who would benefit from attending: Health and finance policymakers, primary care leaders, clinical leaders, patient advocates, payers, population health leaders The study presented was funded by AstraZeneca.