Identifying and addressing low-value care in health and care systems - Cluster 1 - Health (Single stage - 2026) (HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-CARE-03).

Expected Outcome:
This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination “Ensuring equal access to innovative, sustainable, and high-quality healthcare”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim to deliver results that are directed at, tailored towards and contributing to all the following expected outcomes:

• Healthcare providers and policymakers make use of evidence-based indicators and methodologies to identify low-value care[1] practices, as well as opportunities for improvement and tools to monitor such improvements.
• Healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge and tools to implement guidelines for reducing or discontinuing low-value care activities and maintaining effective and patient-centred practices that ensure quality of care.
• Patients and citizens benefit from more effective healthcare, by understanding and endorsing measures that reduce low-value care, recognising the potential to achieve higher-quality healthcare and better health outcomes overall.
• Health and care systems benefit from a reduction of low-value care practices, which enables enhanced patient safety and quality of care, while contributing to their efficiency as well as fiscal and environmental sustainability.
• Healthcare organisations can, by identifying low-value care practices, reallocate valuable healthcare resources to other areas of need.