Smooth and equal access to care for all patients goes hand in hand with achieving the best possible outcome from treatment. Improving patient care is central, but the impact on healthcare providers and the cost to society as a whole are also important concerns. Therefore, increasing the quality and efficiency of our health care system is an eminently common ambition. This challenge is growing in a rapidly changing landscape, just think of the ageing population and the rise in the number of chronically ill people. At the same time, resources are limited, which (rightly) further increases the focus on efficient care. Based on a number of building blocks that we describe below, Janssen is investing in numerous projects that are in line with the healthcare of the future. We do this in long-term partnerships with, among others, healthcare professionals and hospitals, technology companies and patient associations.

Health: a concept with many facets

In a future-proof healthcare system that focuses on quality, we look for the best relationship between costs and outcomes of care. We look at the patient's entire experience of health, not just the biomedical outcomes, such as the size of a tumor, but also the outcomes in terms of quality of life that the patient considers important. For example, being able to resume hobbies or go back to work after treatment. The associated costs then include everything needed to achieve those outcomes. This includes not only the costs of surgery, drugs, diagnostics, and rehabilitation, but also social costs such as work absenteeism or disability, and the impact on a family caregiver. Thanks to some treatments, regular hospital admissions and the associated healthcare costs are avoided. Thus, innovations not only have a positive impact on the life of the patient, but also realize added value within the healthcare system and contribute to the prosperity of the country.

To learn about how our treatments work in daily practice, we increasingly use so-called real world data (RWD): data we collect on the efficacy and safety of our treatments, medicines and vaccines when used in daily practice. We do this, of course, in compliance with laws and regulations regarding privacy and other patient rights.

By collecting this information in a standardized manner, we can compare different patients with the same condition (anonymously). Using this data, we learn more about which drug works best for which patient group and what the best treatment approach is. Together with the development of diagnostic tests and biomarkers - tools that help doctors and caregivers to initiate the right treatment - we can further improve and personalize care. Collecting data to best inform the choices of a treating physician or healthcare provider allows us to further increase the quality and efficiency of the chosen care. This has a positive impact on the health of the patient. But also within the healthcare system, it enables us to make increasingly better judgements and no resources and valuable time are lost.

Furthermore, accurately monitoring the results of a treatment is important in the context of the agreements within so-called risk-sharing conventions that pharmaceutical companies conclude with the government. In this way, the most recent innovations reach the patient quickly, while the government can monitor their effectiveness. The development of such new reimbursement models based on health outcomes therefore stands or falls with the right infrastructure and know-how regarding the collection and interpretation of these real world data. Finally, the collection of this data provides us with important insights that guide research and development (R&D) into new treatments. The innovation cycle starts again, as it were.