3 questions for Sophia Wagner
"We need passion"
How do we create incentives for investments in long-term health measures and prevention? Sophia Wagner of the iX-Institute recommends an adjustement to the health insurance companies' reimbursement system, accelerating digitalization, and more exchange between the different sectors.
Sophia Wagner works as a policy advisor at the WeACT Con partner “iX-Institute for Health Systems Development”. Here she shares her thoughts on the challenges to achieving greater sustainability in the health sector. True to the motto of WeACT Con 2025: “Thinking and Acting Across Boundaries”.
1
Ms. Wagner, what are the challenges to more sustainable healthcare?
Sophia Wagner: I see one of the most important limitations in the structures of the healthcare system, which are often fragmented and, as we all know, highly regulated. Financing and organization are largely geared towards acute treatment and reactive care, which makes sustainable solutions more difficult. One example of a structural change in the healthcare system would be a further developed risk structure compensation (RSA). The Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZWE) has made a good suggestion in this regard: Currently, the expected costs for their policyholders are allocated to health insurance companies once a year via the risk structure compensation. The ZWE, on the other hand, is calling for a ten-year cost forecast to be made the basis of the risk structure compensation – in my view, a good proposal for making prevention more attractive to insurance companies.
2
How can we get past these problems?
In my view, the digitalization of healthcare is a promising approach for greater sustainability in the healthcare system. With digital platforms and networked systems, we can redesign care by pooling patient-related data and simplifying access to relevant information for all stakeholders involved - whether GPs, specialists, nurses or other therapeutic professions. This not only enables efficient and individualized care but also prevents unnecessary and resource-intensive duplicate examinations or hospital stays. Corresponding projects already exist today, but none have yet made it into standard care.
3
How can we overcome these barriers?
In addition to all initiatives at individual and association level, we also need comprehensive political incentives that reward long-term approaches and promote cooperation between the various stakeholders. To this end, a political framework must be created that combines not only climate and health policy, but also financing and innovation policy. Instead of further pilot projects, we should quickly transfer successful approaches into nationwide structures.
We are just at the beginning of so many things. And that's exactly why WeACT Con is needed - so that the right people can network. We need passionate, ambitious and energetic pioneers who drive their topics forward according to their expertise.