The main aim of this action is to give impetus to the essential Research and Development (R&D)  effort necessary to drive cost containment in healthcare while maintaining and improving the quality of care.

As the population of Europe gets older, the CostCares researchers are tackling the increasing problem of healthcare cost and quality. The increasing strain on the public and private healthcare providers is putting the whole European healthcare systems at risk of collapse. Our team proposes and investigates better integration of care in everyday lives, focusing on health promotion and partnership with patients in their health decisions. We predicts that proactive people towards their health will dramatically decrease the cost of healthcare in general.

The team designed special testing facilities that will improve guidelines for “Person centred care”, a term coined by the researchers that proposes treating patients as equal partners in their care process. Now patients are mostly passive receivers of care instead of active partners in their own care. The CostCares action members think that this approach
should extend beyond, and provide a more everyday approach to care.

CostCares, funded by the COST Association, is a continuation of the WeCare project, an EU initiative to develop a long
term Strategic plan and R&D roadmap on cost containment of healthcare, with maintained or improved quality.

More information is available at our Cost Action official call and Memorandum of understanding.