Greece accelerates digital health plan with new infrastructure and drug pricing reforms
These developments were at the forefront of discussions at the 2nd SFEE Summit in Athens on June 24, 2025. Held under the theme 'Delivering Value in an Evolving Landscape,' the event brought together healthcare stakeholders to explore strategies for delivering sustainable value in a rapidly evolving healthcare environment.
At the event, Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis also underlined the role of the Transitional Compensation Scheme in supporting access to innovative medicines.
Strategic shift
Georgiadis claimed that additional measures will be taken to control pharmaceutical expenditure and to reduce the mandatory returns borne by businesses.
The 'transitional compensation scheme', previously called the 'innovation fund', is expected to bridge the cost gap for cutting-edge therapies entering the healthcare system.
The initiative aims to reduce the clawback burden, a contentious automatic returns mechanism, and ensure patients gain timely access to innovative treatments.
This policy is part of a broader European discussion on how to remain competitive in pharmaceutical innovation. Bayer's Pharmaceutical Division President and newly appointed EFPIA President, Stefan Oelrich, stressed at the Summit that Europe must adopt a 'bold regulatory framework' to reclaim its leadership in healthcare innovation.
He noted that while the U.S. and China continue to dominate drug development, Europe must focus on reducing bureaucracy, speeding up approvals, and providing appropriate incentives for novel therapies.
National health data ecosystem
Alongside innovation financing, the Greek government is investing in the country's digital health transformation.
Dimitris Papastergiou, Minister of Digital Governance, acknowledged that the pandemic accelerated digital adoption but often without a structured foundation. 'We are now working under the right framework,' he said, noting that the Electronic Health Record (EHR) system marks a significant achievement for the Ministry.
Efforts to overcome the challenges still lingering regarding data collection and interoperability are intensifying as Greece moves towards developing a digital environment where integrated data sources support care, research, and policy-making, based on the requirements of the European Health Data Space (EHDS).
Aris Aggelis, Secretary General for Strategic Planning at the Ministry of Health, elaborated on the Ministry's ongoing efforts to map all available health data, in collaboration with PwC. He noted that a regulatory framework for the primary and secondary use of health data is under development.
Moreover, a dedicated Health Data Access Body is being established to coordinate secure and ethical access to health data for stakeholders, including trusted entities like the National Organisation for Healthcare Services Provision (EOPYY).
The Ministry is also actively engaged in European initiatives like the EHDS (and the eHealth Network to ensure alignment with continental standards and benefit from shared best practices.
Lessons from Finland
International experience offers valuable insight for Greece's data strategy.
Mervi Siltanen, Executive Director of Finland's Findata, highlighted the importance of decades-long data collection, a culture of trust, and strong cross-sector collaboration in Finland's success with health data utilisation. 'We built on what already existed and created something impactful,' she said, emphasising cooperation among healthcare providers, regulators, and patients.
Industry leaders in Greece echoed the need for trust and data maturity.
Konstantinos Papagiannis, General Secretary of SFEE and CEO of Novartis Greece, stressed that Greece must transition from digital readiness to digital maturity. 'We have made progress, but we need system interoperability and quality assessment of data,' he said. The ultimate goal, he added, is to create a digitally mature healthcare system that serves both the patient and the broader system efficiently.
Ioannis Pandis, Head of Pfizer's Thessaloniki Digital Innovation Hub, cited a successful data integration pilot project as a model for how patient and provider collaboration can yield meaningful insights.
'By combining datasets from all stakeholders, we could identify which drug categories added the most value to the system,' he explained. Pfizer's ongoing investment in Thessaloniki, according to Pandis, is aimed at fostering a broader innovation ecosystem in Greece.
The patient perspective
Yet with all the technological promise, the human element remains essential. Dimitris Skaltsas, CEO and Co-Founder of Intelligencia AI, underlined that data must be trustworthy and continually updated to remain relevant.
'You fall behind in health innovation if your data is outdated or poorly curated,' he warned, adding that new technologies can help bridge this gap, but governance and expertise remain critical.
Representing the patient voice, Giorgos Kapetanakis, President of the Hellenic Cancer Federation (ELL.O.K.), emphasised that human-centred data policies must guide this transformation. 'We risk building sophisticated infrastructures without clarity on how data is selected or used,' he said, warning against excluding patients from the design of secondary data usage frameworks.
Kapetanakis also provided an update on the National Cancer Registry, which is in its pilot phase and expected to become a key tool for oncology care in Greece. The project includes the digitisation of 12 oncology hospitals and is seen as a flagship initiative for data-driven healthcare.
[Edited by Brian Maguire]
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