How can countries address the efficiency and equity implications of health professional mobility in Europe?: Adapting policies in the context of the WHO Code of Practice and EU freedom of movement [Internet]

Health workers in the European Union (EU) are free to seek employment in another Member State as guaranteed by EU law. This mobility of health professionals changes the composition of the health workforce in source and destination countries and may aggravate or mitigate existing problems such as shortages, mal-distribution and skill-mismatches of health professionals.

To mitigate unwanted effects and strengthen positive ones, the Member States of the World Health Organization have adopted the Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel. The Code, however, needs to be contextualized for Europe, taking into account the freedom of movement in the EU.

Mitigating unwanted effects and strengthening positive ones is highly relevant in the EU as some Member States rely to a large extent on foreign health professionals while others experience important outflows. In the EU free mobility area, flows of health professionals are dynamic, often changing direction and magnitude, and affect all countries.

Countries are faced with the constantly changing conundrum of efficiency and equity, that is, between the free mobility of health professionals in the European labour market on one hand, and the planning requirements of health systems ensuring universal health coverage on the other hand. It is necessary to disentangle the conundrum and make it accessible to policy-makers and stakeholders as health professional mobility:

1. ○ has clear effects on efficiency and equity;

2. ○ is a complex phenomenon, neither positive nor negative per se, but implying merits and drawbacks for both source and destination countries; and

3. ○ affects the EU as a whole and destination and source countries simultaneously.

Three sets of policy options can be used to address the consequences of health professional mobility on efficiency and equity at EU and country level:

1. ○ policy options to foster health workforce sustainability;

2. ○ policy options to manage mobility; and

3. ○ EU action to address the consequences and opportunities of free mobility.

Countries can choose from a wide range of policy options that correspond best with their needs (Table 2). Implementing policy options will often require strong intersectoral governance and consensus building across government departments and stakeholders.