The INCO-HEALTH operation will set up and make operational 5 pilot sites enabling to provide customised services and tools supporting regional and national authorities to introduce health and insurance cards and the EHIC. The 5 antennas, established in the regions involved into the project, will integrate methods and practices ensuring by one hand the capacity to launch regional health and insurance cards programmes from an initial phase of design and understanding of facilitators and barriers, until their full deployment, and by the other providing the expertise to support and accompany further regional and national public bodies to challenge the introduction of EHIC.
Having in mind the EU environment and action plan devoted to homogenise the EU framework in this domain, the networked antennas will play the role to standardise EHIC and to extend the gained experience in the involved regions in the EU context thus fitting the objective to reduce disparities of approach. In order to get this result pilots will benefit of a joint development approach aimed at homogenise different strategies actually deployed at EU level in this domain. In this light should be taken in due weight the fact that new instruments and methods conceived within the operation will fit with the EU frame which is under construction. Participating regions are confident that the INCO-HEALTH concept will constitute a support for developing new policies and strategies in the EHIC panorama.

Pilot sites will be in the position to run all steps required for introducing regional health and insurance cards to be integrated into the EHIC and get an organisational structure enabling to be self-sustainable. Once set-up pilot sites will work as regional antennas playing a pivotal role bridging the gap in this field.

Each antenna will have a structure formed by 5-7 people with different expertise (legal, technological, logistic, training, financial, management, communication and promotion) and will be supervised by an operational manager

Each antenna will be able to provide services and tools such as: questionnaire for detecting actual regional positioning in EHIC strategies; database of best practices on EHIC adoption; audit and consulting services tailored for regional authorities and health-insurance bodies; organisation of promotional events, innovative projects in the regional health and insurance cards domain, publicity and awareness creation.

Antennas will be set-up in:

• Region of Veneto – Local Healthcare Management Unit of Bassano del Grappa ULSS 3
   

• Region of Lombardy – Directorate General for Health
   

• Region of Friuly Venezia-Giulia – Regional Agency for Health ARS
   

• Slovenia - Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia ZZZS
   

• Hungary - National Health Insurance Fund OEP

Additional 3 antennas will be established in the frame of the operation with the objective to extend experiences, methods and practices to other EU regions external to the INCO-HEALTH geographic coverage.