EHMA 2021 Annual Conference: Abstracts Health Management: Managing the Present and Shaping the Future

Over the last year, health systems across Europe have encountered the most difficult times for a generation. Throughout the world, health services buckled under the strain of COVID-19, confronting enormous challenges around hospital capacity and workforce planning during a pandemic. As managers are pondering whether there will be a return to a ‘new normal‘, important questions will be asked about how to increase the resilience and readiness of health systems whilst also providing high-quality routine care catching up on the backlog of many months of missed operations. Health management will be at the centre of providing solutions for these unprecedented difficulties. Bringing practitioners, researchers and academics together to share solutions has never been more important than today. The EHMA Annual Conference 2021 organised by EHMA in collaboration with the Associação Portuguesa de Administradores Hospitalares (APAH) and its academic partners, the Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública and the Universidade Nova: Nova School of Business and Economics brought together experts from across the world to discuss solutions to managing services in the post-COVID future. With a rich and diverse programme, the conference offered a unique opportunity to share experiences and find answers to some of the most difficult problems in leading and managing the health services of tomorrow. The EHMA Annual Conference is widely considered the preeminent place to share experiences, skills and competencies in the field of health management. With a strong focus on innovative practices in governing, planning and delivering services, the EHMA 2021 Annual Conference allowed getting in touch with European and international colleagues to discuss the latest developments in governance and leadership, digital transformation, integrated care, and creating sustainable person-centred services.