Healthcare Innovation Trends: Insights from the Healthcare Economics Conference in Lisbon

The conference “Healthcare Economics: Sustainability and Innovation,” held on 5 May in Lisbon and organised by Jornal Económico in partnership with Morais Leitão, brought together experts to explore healthcare innovation trends shaping Portugal’s system. Central discussions focused on financial pressures facing the Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS), demographic shifts, pharmaceutical innovation, and the measured integration of artificial intelligence.

Aging Population and Supply-Chain Realities

Experts in the “Trends and Opportunities” panel underscored how an ageing population intensifies demand on services. Helena Freitas of Sanofi Portugal advocated viewing health as an investment in outcomes rather than a fiscal burden, pointing to health-literacy initiatives and preventive measures such as vaccines and early cardiovascular interventions. Carlos Ribeiro of Takeda Portugal highlighted pandemic- and tariff-related disruptions to pharmaceutical supply chains, noting heavy regulation limits price flexibility and bureaucratic hurdles slow clinical-trial approvals. These observations illustrate how proactive, non-expenditure-driven approaches can ease systemic strain while preserving access.

Spending Data and Regulatory Tools

Data presented by Hermano Rodrigues of EY-Parthenon showed Portuguese healthcare expenditure reached €29.2 billion in 2024, or 10.2 percent of GDP—above the OECD average—alongside SNS pressures including 1.6 million patients without a family doctor and one million awaiting hospital appointments. In the “Value with Potential” panel, Antonieta Lucas of Apormed cited €800 million in savings from medical-technology investments that enable outpatient procedures, while João Almeida Lopes of Apifarma described a March 2025 agreement converting an extraordinary levy into incentives for domestic investment. Rui Santos Ivo of Infarmed introduced the Process Tracker tool to monitor medicine-funding applications, strengthening transparency and supporting claims that innovation can be balanced with fiscal control.

Public-Private Models and AI Integration

The panel “Treating the Portuguese: Public, Private, PPP” advanced the view that rigid distinctions between public and private delivery are outdated. José Bento of Hospital de Cascais stressed outcome-driven management over funding limitations, and Xavier Barreto of APAH noted record SNS activity in 2025 that still falls short of demand. In parallel, Ana Gil Abreu Marques of Siemens Healthineers positioned artificial intelligence as a diagnostic and response enhancer rather than a comprehensive fix, requiring targeted literacy programmes for professionals and patients. These insights suggest that refined public-private coordination and phased AI adoption could improve market access and reimbursement predictability while addressing Portugal’s relative lag in clinical-trial competitiveness.