Paying for health care in the face of fiscal constraints: how to generate adequate revenues and to spend better
Sunday 19 to Saturday 25 July 2026 - Venice, Italy
Key Information
What: The Observatory Venice Summer School is a short, immersive and intensive course – a week of learning, dialogue and exchange, and a chance to share experiences with other policy-makers, planners, and professionals.
Who: The School addresses policy-makers, advisors and influencers, including those at national, regional, and local levels who are working to improve health financing systems at all stages from design through to implementation.
When: The school starts on Sunday, 19 July in the afternoon (opening at 5:00 pm) and ends on Friday 24 July with an evening of celebration. Departure day is Saturday 25 July 2026.
Where: The course takes place in-person ‘live’ on San Servolo island in Venice and cannot be followed online.
Applications will open in early 2026
Rationale and Focus
Throughout the week, we will discuss how health financing decisions can safeguard access, equity, and value (i.e. outcomes for money), even amid competing priorities and limited fiscal space. Participants will engage with real-world policy dilemmas with hands-on learning which incorporates simulation tools, economic framing, and strategic investment approaches to visualize trade-offs and long-term impacts of financing decisions. More than an academic exercise, this course will demonstrate how evidence-informed decision-making, public engagement, good governance and timing can be leveraged to drive meaningful change in health financing to, in turn, benefit health systems and health outcomes more broadly.
Content
The course will address definitions and rationale, conceptual and methodological approaches, alongside the practical use of evidence and economic modelling, forecasting and analysis for policy-makers and the politics around it. The course content will include modules which will cover:
- Why Health Financing Matters Now More Than Ever. Understanding the fiscal pressures facing European health systems and the implications for health outcomes, sustainability, equity, and access.
- Strategic Use of Funds: Spending Smarter, Not Just More. Exploring how to align health budgets with national overall priorities, improve managerial capacity, and assess value for money.
- Priority Setting and Disinvestment: Making Tough Choices. Tools and frameworks for identifying low-value care, engaging the public, and building political support for reallocation.
- Fiscal Sustainability and Long-Term Planning. Addressing demographic shifts, labor market constraints, and the role of conditional funding in driving reform.
- Transformational Change and Systemic Incentives. Innovative approaches to cost containment, adaptive pricing, and shifting incentives toward prevention and primary care.
- Framing Health Financing for Impact. Using economic language, data visualization, and policy simulators to influence finance ministries and public discourse.
- Politics, Public Engagement, and the Art of Reform. Navigating the political economy of health financing, anticipating unintended consequences, and fostering a “test and learn” culture.
Approach
The six-day course includes formal teaching lectures, high-level panel discussions and has at its core the practical experiences of participants. A highly participative approach allows real engagement, with group work that cuts across themes, participant presentations, round tables and panel discussions. The course mobilizes the latest evidence, with a multidisciplinary team of experts from the health policy, economics, and social sciences fields who will offer insights into this important area. The course follows in the Summer School tradition, which fosters evidence-informed policy-making and encourages a European debate on health policy by raising key issues, sharing learning and building lasting networks.
Accreditation
The Summer School applies to the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and it is expected that participation will count towards ongoing professional development in all EU Member States.
Organization
The Summer School is organized by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, the Veneto Region of Italy, the European Commission and World Health Organization (WHO) with contributions from the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing.
Applying
The Summer School is primarily aimed at mid- to senior- level policy-makers although more junior professionals will be considered. All participants should be working in a decision-making or advisory function in a governmental or non-governmental context – such as ministries, (public) health institutes, regulatory or funding bodies, provider, and professional associations – and ideally on health system performance issues and / or performance measurement.
Applications are welcome from all 53 WHO European Region Member States, and the programme will be tailored as far as is possible to the backgrounds of participants. If places allow, participants from outside the Region will be considered.
Applications will open in the first quarter 2026.
The cost of € 2,600 includes: teaching, 6 nights’ accommodation, meals, transfer from/to the Marco Polo International airport on Sunday 19 and Saturday 25 July 2026, public transport from/to the island-Venice, high-level panels, and a social programme.
| Preparation: The course involves only limited preparation All materials will be available in due course at www.theobservatorysummerschool.org. |
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About
The European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies supports and promotes evidence-informed health policy-making through the comprehensive and rigorous analysis of the dynamics of health systems in Europe and beyond. It is a WHO-hosted partnership that includes a range of partners, including international organisations (the WHO Regional Office for Europe, European Commission); national governments and regional governments (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Italy’s Veneto Region with Agenas); other health system actors (CNAMS, - the French National Union of Health Insurance Funds - the Health Foundation), and academia (the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine).
The Observatory has three hubs based in Brussels (Secretariat), London (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine & London School of Economics) and Berlin (Technical University of Berlin).
The European Commission is the EU's executive body. It represents the interests of the European Union as a whole (not the interests of individual countries). The Commission is committed to make Europe a healthier, safer place, where citizens can be confident that their interests are protected. It has been a partner of the European Observatory since 2009 and is promoting and facilitating the exchange of best practice, and supporting periodic monitoring and evaluation.
The Veneto Region seeks to ensure that empirical evidence and analysis reaches national and regional stakeholders and policy-makers. It is involved in comparing health care systems across EU Member States. The Veneto Region is active in the area of cross-border health care and plays a leading role in the EU in research and policy development. The Veneto Region, which has been a partner of the European Observatory since 2004, is hosting the Summer School because it is committed to providing a European platform for political debate on health matters, linking regional authorities to the EU debate.
The World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe’s Division of Country Health Policies and Systems (CPS) aims to assist Member States assists countries with: the design and implementation of appropriate health policies and systems to strengthen universal health coverage; advocates for the strengthening of public health leadership to ensure people centred policies; and focuses on building capacity for health system innovation. WHO Europe hosts the Observatory partnership. CPS and the Observatory work in close collaboration on a range of activities including the development of policy briefs and dialogues to support decision making and other knowledge-brokering initiatives.
For more information and regular updates on the programme and lecturers: www.theobservatorysummerschool.org