El gasto en salud

This document analyses recent data on healthcare spending in Spain within an international context, seeking to identify the key factors driving medium-term pressures and proposing possible courses of action. The distinction between value for money and budgetary impact is fundamental to this comparison. Spending driven by population ageing is addressed through long-term prevention and healthy ageing. The tensions caused by technological innovation, particularly in hospital pharmacy, are addressed through effective institutionalisation of evaluation and changes in incentives (risk-sharing contracts). Organisational reforms have enormous potential as a barrier to uncontrolled inertial growth in costs in the sector.