Stinne Vaga: The Coming Months Will Be a Decisive Time for Healthcare Companies To Bring Their Solutions To Policymakers

Estonia’s biggest healthcare challenges are creating opportunities for companies that, in the coming months, can offer practical solutions to three broad questions: how to secure additional funding for the healthcare system; how private funding and private health insurance could provide greater support to the state; and how digital solutions, better use of data and artificial intelligence can help reduce costs.

Healthcare is currently under significant pressure: public dissatisfaction is growing, treatment waiting lists are long, and the shortage of healthcare workers is deepening. A situation in which the Health Insurance Fund’s deficit could reach €900 million by 2035, combined with an ageing population, shows that the current funding model based on social tax is not sustainable and that the system needs reform.

The current situation creates opportunities for companies that can offer practical solutions in a resource-constrained environment – solutions that help the state manage the existing system more effectively, improve access to services, reduce waiting lists, support the continuity of primary and family doctor care, use data more intelligently, improve patient pathways, reduce the burden on healthcare workers and demonstrate better health outcomes.

Companies that invest their time and expertise, and proactively approach decision-makers with a realistic implementation plan, will have an advantage over those that wait for the state to develop a solution on its own. It is important to be able to clearly show what a company can offer the state – whether that is data, expertise, a functioning service model, technology, investment or international experience. All of this requires a strong understanding of developments in healthcare policy and the ability to place one’s solution in the right political context.

Where do opportunities arise for companies?

One of the state’s key priorities is to strengthen primary healthcare and establish a legal basis for a network of health centres with regional responsibility, in order to ensure the continuity and availability of primary care also in Estonia’s smaller regions. This means the state needs partners who can offer well-considered solutions for developing service models, information technology, data use, support services, diagnostics and work processes.

Another important direction is the move towards value-based healthcare, where funding is linked to health outcomes rather than service volumes. This creates opportunities for companies that can demonstrate not only the existence of a service, but also its measurable impact: pharmaceutical companies, diagnostics providers, digital health companies, private clinics, hospitals, occupational health service providers and data analytics companies.

The growing role of employers in preventing health problems, supporting early detection and helping people return to work creates opportunities for solutions that help keep people in the workforce and reduce pressure on the treatment system. A digital mental health care pathway is also under development. Shared data standards, event-based data exchange, the consolidation of hospital information systems and a more unified logic for family doctors’ IT systems are also creating opportunities in healthcare for technology companies.

Three questions companies should ask themselves

Ahead of the Parliamentary (Riigikogu) elections, three topics are likely to become central in the healthcare debate over the coming months: where additional funding for the healthcare system will come from; what role private funding and private insurance will play; and how digital solutions and artificial intelligence can help reduce costs. The answers to these questions may also find their way into a future coalition agreement after the Parliamentary elections in spring 2027.

That is why the coming months are also the best time for companies to take part in policymaking: to think through their solutions, formulate them clearly and bring them to policymakers, officials and other stakeholders. Companies that want to have a say in the development of the sector should ask themselves three practical questions:

1. Which healthcare problem faced by the state does our solution help solve?

Does it concern treatment waiting lists, access to care, continuity of primary care, workforce shortages, data use, quality, the patient pathway or the long-term financial pressure on the Health Insurance Fund?

2. How do we prove our impact?

A general promise that a solution is useful is not enough. What is needed is data, expertise, a realistic implementation plan and a clear connection to the state’s objectives.

3. Whose decisions does this message need to reach?

Healthcare policy is shaped in the ministry, the Health Insurance Fund, the Parliament of Estonia (the Riigikogu), professional associations, patient organisations, employers’ organisations and public debate. To achieve impact, it is necessary to know whom to speak to, when to speak to them and in what order.

For this reason, healthcare companies should already be thinking through their advocacy plans and, where necessary, involve experts who can help assess the policy window, formulate a core message that decision-makers can understand and deliver it to the right people at the right time. In government relations, what matters is not only what to say, but also to whom, when and in what political context.

Stinne’s opinion piece was published in Postimees.