Within the framework of the first ever Joint Action (JA), CIRCE-JA, for primary healthcare (PHC) co-funded by the European Union, six innovative best practices (BPs) have been transferred and implemented in 40 sites in 12 European Union (EU) Member States (MS) and across diverse settings. Drawing on this extensive experience, this conference will focus on the most significant results and cross-cutting lessons emerging from the implementation of transferred practices. By bringing these insights to a wider audience of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, this conference aims to stimulate dialogue on effective implementation strategies and to support the translation of evidence into health policy and practice.

Objectives & Target Audience

Objectives

CIRCE-JA is focused on strengthening health systems through the transfer and implementation of 6 well-studied innovative BPs in primary care across 40 new sites in 12 MS. This action supports and enhances the capacity of health systems to implement innovative models of care using a structured methodology, active monitoring, evaluation, knowledge generation and brokering policy dialogue. More than 45 entities in 14 MS have been involved in developing and conducting all phases of CIRCE-JA.

The six BPs come from 6 originating entities in 4 countries (1 in Belgium, 3 in Spain, 1 in Portugal and 1 in Slovenia) and cover aspects such as multidisciplinary teams, health promotion, telemedicine, integrated care, avoiding low-value practices, and preventing gender and children violence.

Studying the replication of BPs across Europe is crucial, as certain national or regional health systems in the EU offer innovative PHC models that demonstrate how strong community-based care can enhance population health, promote equity, and improve cost efficiency. Insights gained can allow policymakers and researchers to identify transferable strategies that can help strengthen health systems globally, beyond the EU too, particularly in countries seeking to achieve universal health coverage and improved health outcomes.

In its final event, the CIRCE-JA conference, CIRCE-JA will celebrate its achievements and the work of hundreds of people coming together across the EU with the vision of transforming health systems and the care and cure people receive. The objective of the conference is to inform about the key findings and the relevant results of CIRCE-JA, including methodological aspects for transferring innovations, with due consideration to the degree of heterogeneity across health systems in EU countries. The event will showcase specific examples of transfer, adaptation and subsequent implementation in both urban and rural settings. Selected results from the assessment carried out will be presented. Participants will be given the opportunity to contribute their own unique insights along with examining their potential impact on the public health and PHC agenda at the European, regional and national levels.

Draft structure: Several sub-sessions addressing the following items and including interactions with the audience.

• Overview and context of the action
• Methodology used
• Transfer and implementation process
• Experiences from implementers (urban and rural)
• Results and Expected Impact
• Scale-up and sustainability
• CIRCE-JA Observatory

Target audience: around 100 participants are expected, including CIRCE-JA partners and the wider audience involving stakeholders such as healthcare professionals (HCPs), healthcare managers, payers, insurers, patient organisations, scientific societies, other civil society representatives, economic sector representatives, patients and their families, and informal carers, together with experts and researchers, policymakers, and representatives from other relevant EU initiatives. Due consideration will be given to balancing representation in terms of stakeholder involvement, country representation and key insights will be captured to inform how to operationalise and optimise the primary healthcare and public health interface.

This session is co-funded by the European Commission.