This is one of the 10 recommendations contained in a joint declaration issued at the 4th Iberian Summit in Madrid, which brought together the Portuguese Association of Private Hospitalisation (APHP), as an association of private hospitals in Portugal, bringing together more than 90% of the private hospital supply in Portugal and ASPE, a private health employer that represents more than 80% of Spanish private hospital centers.

Under analysis at this summit, according to the organisers, was "the situation of the health systems in each of the countries, the framework of their activity and reflection on topics of special importance, such as the management of human resources and the relationship with payers, namely insurers and health subsystems".

Aware of their role in their respective health systems, where they represent around 30% of hospital capacity, ASPE and APHP signed the "Madrid Declaration", containing several recommendations addressed to their members, to the European Private Hospitalization Union (UEHP) and political leaders, among others.

In the joint statement, private hospitals in Spain and Portugal "alert financiers to the need to take into account the evolution of healthcare costs resulting from general increases (inflation) but also the specificities of the sector (scarce workforce, innovation in medicines and medical devices, surgical innovation)”.

They also alert "those responsible for health policies to the potential that exists in the articulation between the public and private sectors, in terms of assistance and finance, and to the danger of some measures implying the weakening or dismantling of private provision".

They also say they reject "any discriminatory initiatives between operators (of a regulatory, financial nature, state aid), which disrupt the sector, create instability and penalise citizens and professionals".

They also call on the respective Ministries of Health for "an adequate implementation of the European Health Data Space, with the involvement of private partners in the entire process and financing mechanisms for the necessary investments".

Among other points, private hospitalisation in Spain and Portugal emphasises investing in innovation and offering citizens "the best responses available worldwide, while investing in climate and digital transitions".