Health System and Policy Monitor (HSPM)

The European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (European Observatory) was founded in 1998 as a partnership-based project under the umbrella of the World Health Organization (WHO), Europe. The goal of the partner community, including international organizations such as the European Commission and the World Bank, national governments (e.g. Switzerland), health system organizations and academia is to create and disseminate evidence-based foundations on issues related to European health systems and health policies.

The European Observatory operates the Health Systems and Policy Monitor (HSPM) as one of its services. The HSPM is an electronic platform to which scientific partner institutions from most European and some non-European countries are connected. It provides a detailed description of health systems (the so called HiT, Health Systems in Transition; the current review of the Swiss Health Care System is the result of a collaborative effort that involved SUPSI, Obsan and the Berlin University of Technology) and provides up to date information on reforms and changes that are particularly policy relevant.

Through an SSPH+ mandate of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), the SwissLearning Health System (SLHS), under the lead of the University of Lucerne, is updating the Country Platform of the European Observatory for Health Systems and Policies with health facts that are relevant for Switzerland. A recent joint effort is the COVID-19 Health System Response Monitor that collects cross-countries evidence on policy responses in the face of the coronavirus outbreak.