| Summary: | The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence to help health systems’ policy makers within European countries in making the most appropriate decisions to maintain and improve the health of the people they serve. For this purpose, we have analyzed secondary data provided by the annual reports of the Euro Health Consumer Index, which ranks European countries in terms of their health systems’ ability to serve the needs of healthcare consumers. We consider both the short-run and long-run approach in determining the influence of Patient rights and information, Accessibility, Prevention, Range and reach of services, and Pharmaceuticals on Outcomes. By means of a panel data analysis, we capture the influences not only in a single point of time, but in a time span of five years (2012–2016). The main findings suggest that pharmaceuticals and range and reach of services are positively associated with improving immediate outcomes, while for sustainable results, efforts should be directed to prevention programs and means of accessibility improvement.
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