The Council of the European Union has adopted an implementing decision amending its 28 July 2021 approval of the assessment of Lithuania's recovery and resilience plan, specifically updating Component 1 on a resilient and future-proof health system. The decision, published on 3 July 2026 and scheduled for adoption at the Council meeting of 8 July 2026, approves reforms and investments aimed at improving the quality, accessibility, digitalisation, and emergency resilience of Lithuania's healthcare system, which was strained by the COVID-19 pandemic.
improving quality and accessibility of health services and promoting innovation, improving long-term care services, and strengthening health system resilience for emergencies. Reforms focus on shifting to outpatient care, reorganising the hospital network, digitalising healthcare, improving working conditions and skills of health professionals, scaling up prevention, improving access to long-term care, and reforming healthcare financing to reduce dependence on employment-related contributions. Investments include creating a centre for advanced therapies, establishing a health professionals' competence platform, digitalising the health system, developing an integrated healthcare quality assessment model, and setting up long-term care day-care centres and mobile teams. Investments also modernise healthcare facility infrastructure to adapt work in emergency and crisis situations. No measure in this component does significant harm to environmental objectives within the meaning of Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852.
The decision sets key milestones and targets with completion dates, including legislation on ambulance services (Q4 2022), secondary use of health data (Q3 2022), an updated Family Medicine Action Plan (Q4 2022), a basic public health service delivery model (Q1 2023), legislation on working conditions and qualifications of health professionals (Q2 2023), legislation on the network of personal health care institutions (Q3 2023), construction of an advanced therapy centre (Q2 2026), 1,570 human genome sequencing tests (Q1 2026), establishment of a Health Professionals Competence Platform (Q4 2024), an online healthcare service quality indicator dashboard (Q2 2025), approval of an Action Plan for Digital Health System and completion of nine projects (Q2 2026), and legislation on a long-term care model (Q1 2024).
The decision impacts several stakeholders. Lithuanian patients stand to benefit from improved access to quality healthcare services and digitalisation, but may face transitional disruptions during hospital network reorganisation. Healthcare professionals will see improved working conditions and skills development opportunities, though reforms may require adaptation to new care models. The Lithuanian government will need to implement legislative and investment milestones, with potential administrative burden. EU taxpayers, through the Recovery and Resilience Facility, finance these reforms, expecting enhanced health system resilience and efficiency in return.
No further institutional follow-up is required from the Council; implementation now rests with Lithuanian authorities, with monitoring by the European Commission.