Available online 23 October 2022

CBHC collaborations are concentrated on fulfilling local and regional demands for accessible health care

Diverse picture of collaborations across Europe with no “one size fits it all” solutions

Results confirm the importance of so-called fluid borders for CBHC

Cultural, historical and geographical ties remain important

Difficulty to reach sustainability of collaboration beyond EU funding

Cross-border health care (CBHC) collaborations, using EU funding, may represent a lever for local and regional policymakers by which to balance questions of access and quality of health care against economic concerns in health. An analysis of existing collaborations analyses CHBC against the three core dimensions of European Union health policy: fiscal policy, economic policy, or social cohesion policy . We carried out a literature review and a systematic analysis of online data bases on EU-funded CBHC collaborations for the period 2007-2017. Identified projects were classified as referring to CBHC as an element of either of the three dimensions. Out of 1167 identified projects, 423 EU-funded projects were selected. Projects not primarily concerned with economic concerns (internal market) and fiscal aspects predominate. Results indicate the importance of shared historical ties and geographical proximity for CBHC collaborations. Yet, they also show the need for further mixed methods research to investigate whether EU policies in health are more likely to be in line with the needs of policymakers in member states, if they focus on local and regional demands for high-quality, accessible health care rather than on internal market concerns or fiscal aspects.

cross-border healthcare

accessibility

quality of care

regional policy

European integration

© 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V.