The right to timely access to good quality, affordable, preventative and curative health care for everyone is proclaimed in the European Pillar of Social Rights, however there are significant imbalances in access to healthcare in the EU. These are related to demographic, environmental, social and territorial factors.
The main purpose of the study is to provide the information necessary to know and recognize the added value of Interreg in improving access to healthcare services.
The study analyses what are the actions undertaken by the EU 2014-2020 European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) programmes in the field of access to healthcare and how ETC projects have addressed existing barriers.

107 projects were analysed:

Data show that cooperation projects aimed at improving access to healthcare have been funded by the EU all over the Union, but more intensely in Eastern Europe. Also, access to healthcare seems more frequently addressed cross-border, including with non-Member States (both pre-accession and neighboring countries).
During the 2014-2020 programming period, European Territorial Cooperation programmes pursued ‘Access to healthcare’ through a variety of initiatives that can be broadly organised into four interlinked thematic clusters: 1. Healthcare provision to overcome territorial disparities in the supply of healthcare services, 2. Social inclusion to guarantee preventative and curative treatments for all citizens, 3. Innovation to improve the quality of healthcare systems through new organisational models, processes and products, and 4. Training and networking to increase the competences of health professionals and foster cross-fertilisation among different healthcare domains.
The study, coordinated by Marzia Legnini, is available here