On 5 June 2026, the Břevnov Monastery in Prague hosted the fourth annual Cardiology Conference of Medical Journal (Zdravotnický deník), this year under the subtitle “From Strategic Documents to Practical Results.” Among the speakers and panellists was the head of our CzechHTA group, Assoc. Prof. Aleš Tichopád, Ph.D. In his presentation, he opened a topic that sits at the very heart of health technology assessment — adherence to treatment and its impact on both care outcomes and system costs.
Conference theme
This year’s edition centred on the transition from strategic plans to concrete, measurable results. Czech cardiology already has a range of conceptual documents at its disposal, including the National Cardiovascular Plan; the key question, however, remains how to turn these documents into demonstrable improvements in patient care.
The opening address was delivered by the Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch, who presented the ministry’s vision — strengthening prevention, giving patients wider access to laboratory results, shifting part of the care for stable patients to general practitioners, and continuously evaluating the network of cardiovascular centres on the basis of data. Ladislav Dušek, director of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics, presented data on the real costs of cardiovascular diseases addressed too late, while Pavel Hroboň (Advance Healthcare Management Consulting) outlined the possibilities of disease management and systemic care governance.
The panel discussions also drew in representatives of the Czech Society of Cardiology, Petr Ošťádal and Aleš Linhart, the directors of the health insurance funds Ivan Duškov (VZP) and David Šmehlík (ČPZP), and the chair of the Czech Alliance for Cardiovascular Diseases, Kristýna Čillíková. The conference was moderated by Tomáš Cikrt, editor-in-chief of Zdravotnický deník.
Assoc. Prof. Tichopád spoke in the second panel, titled “Quality, Adherence and New Reimbursement Models: How to Pay for Better Outcomes in Cardiology.” The panel he took part in addressed questions closely tied to the CzechHTA agenda:
- which quality indicators should actually be monitored in cardiology,
- how to reliably measure adherence and the achievement of treatment targets,
- how to design reimbursement mechanisms that support coordinated care,
- what the role of health insurance funds and the ministry should be,
- and whether the Czech system is able to move from fee-for-service payment towards payment for outcomes or for managed care.
Alongside Assoc. Prof. Tichopád, the panel featured insurance fund directors Ivan Duškov and David Šmehlík, together with other experts from clinical and organisational practice (Václav Janalík, Dagmar Součková, Jiří Veselý).