Innovations in healthcare save lives, but the system continues to lack relevant evaluation of health technologies and the necessary registers that would allow for effective treatment of patients and access to healthcare innovations. The system also needs to institute incentives for healthcare employees and, above all, develop a vision of long term sustainability so that the system can adapt to the challenges of the future.

Only a sustainable healthcare system and evidence supported decision-making can enable rapid access to innovative medicines, vaccinations, therapies and technologies that change the treatment of many diseases and extend or even save the lives of patients. Since they also reduce the costs of specialist and hospital treatments and increase productivity, investments in research and development are not only cost efficient, they are absolutely necessary. But we are faced with an aging society and increasingly common chronic diseases, propulsive innovations, important developmental shifts in medicine and limited financial resources. All of the above factors are already severely threatening the sustainability of the Slovenian healthcare system. Medicinal product prices have already contributed to slowing the growth of current healthcare expenditures as prices are now nearly a third lower than in the years before the global economic crisis while the prices of consumer goods have increased. Costs of prescription medicinal products represent only 14 percent of public health expenditures.