Crónica del Comité Organizador de las XLII Jornadas de Economía de la Salud (Girona, 5-7 de julio de 2023)

Let me start at the end. We are on Friday, July 7, after noon, the roar of the fireworks prepared by the “pyrotechnic master” Voro Peiró marks the end of the tribute to Vicente Ortún, followed by the closing ceremony of the Conference and the glass of cava. The Faculty of Letters of the University of Girona It is almost empty and the majority of AES members and social workers have begun the return trip. A few meters from the headquarters, in the bar, in front of the rectorate, some of the people involved in the organization regain their strength and I think I can say that we share a mixture of satisfaction and fatigue. During the following weeks, emotional recovery, assimilation of everything seen and heard and we are practically on August 1, when I receive a message from Cristina Hernández-Quevedo, editor of the Bulletin, with the invitation to write this chronicle. . from the perspective of the Organizing Committee. She was waiting for the proposal and was delighted to accept it.

If we go back to the beginning, the idea of ​​celebrating the AES Conference in Girona was concocted in an interrupted manner. It was Marc Sáez who first told me about the idea, I remember exactly the place: the access staircase to the first floor of the Faculty of Economics. It was a Friday afternoon in the fall of 2019. Shortly after, as in so many other things, the pandemic marked a long hiatus. Two years later, in the fall of 2021, it was Marc again who took up the issue, also sending me an invitation to serve as president of the Organizing Committee. Important scare, but there are people who have always collaborated in all kinds of close causes and to whom I cannot say no, and Marc Sáez is one of them. On the other hand, I found it exciting to be able to contribute this time to the AES Conference, a scientific and social meeting that has given me a lot. In the initial team, there were also José María Inoriza, I think he needs no introduction, a good friend and partner in long-distance fatigue, and Laura Vall-Llosera, a teammate in the University of Girona and in various research projects linked to SSIBE-Hospital de Palamós. To have the complete image of the gestation, it is essential to also visualize the hand of Laia Maynou, closely linked to the city, pulling some strings on behalf of the AES Board of Directors.

In the first half of 2022, monthly meetings began. During these months, we finalized the final composition of the Organizing Committee and a proposal for a venue and dates. The team was completed by Joan San and Anna Garriga, deans of the faculties of Medicine and Economics respectively and who will later firmly defend the project at an institutional level, and María Fuentes, who provided the vision of the local ecosystem of innovation companies. During this period we collected numerous ideas about the reception of AES members and societies and about the organization of the social agenda. Hotels, restaurants, events… At that time, on paper, there seemed to be an infinite number of possibilities. With all this we prepared a brief presentation of the candidacy and we went to Zaragoza, to the AES XL+1 Conference. The proposal was well received and ratified by the Assembly of partners and companies and for the first time we had the feeling that things were serious.

Starting in September 2022, planning and tasks picked up a certain pace. We resume monthly meetings. Tagline, presentation text, web publication and primer save the datesselection of catering, budgets, local sponsorships… Everything accelerated and without realizing it, the year changed and we already saw March 22 on the calendar, the date of the Technical Conference.

Come March we face the first “official” event of this edition. At the Technical Conference titled “Mental Health, new approaches after the Pandemic”, the impact of the pandemic on mental health and its possible forms of organization were discussed. The Technical Conference left us with a good taste, but at the same time we realized – after an intense battle with the transmission– to have a beautiful headquarters so similar to Hogwarts It would involve dealing with some additional technical difficulties.

The months between March and June passed very quickly. The main decisions regarding the organization were taken. However, there were infinite details pending to be finalized and last-minute problems that we had to solve. This maelstrom reached its maximum the week immediately before the start of the Conference. Monday, July 3rd arrived and at this point you just had to cross your fingers and hope that all the pieces fit together as planned.

On Tuesday, July 4, the workshops began. In this edition, the two ideas we were considering came together hours apart. They were two excellent proposals and we decided, with prior permission from the AES Board of Directors, to carry out two workshops. The first titled “Introduction to (Bayesian) survival modeling in the evaluation of health technologies”, taught by Gianluca Baio. The second titled “Review and update of what we know about analytical accounting in the SNS”, coordinated by Francesc Cots and taught by members of the Spanish Network of Hospital Costs (RECH). The second workshop broke the attendance record with more than 80 participants. The high attendance forced a last-minute change of classroom and the new location turned out to be a certainly more spacious classroom, although without air conditioning. Luckily, thanks to the numerous fans working and the extra water, there were no personal casualties.

Image 1: Workshop on analytical accounting in the SNS.

And finally the long-awaited opening day arrived. Surprised faces among the newcomers upon entering a large auditorium set up inside an old church, where a screen of considerable dimensions showed the graphic image of the Conference. The opening table included the presidencies of AES, the Scientific Committee and the Organizing Committee (Anna García-Altés, Laia Maynou and myself), in addition to a good institutional representation: the rector of the University of Gironathe Health Minister of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the mayor of Girona (Quim Salvi, Manel Balcells and Lluc Salellas, respectively).

This was followed by the inaugural plenary session “Data-driven digital transformation in healthcare”, led by Dipak Kalra and, from this moment on, little by little, the magnificent program prepared by the Scientific Committee was deployed, which, it should be said step, exceeded all expectations. Succession of presentation tables, organized sessions, Speakers Cornerplus plenary sessions and emotional tributes to Joan Rovira and Carlos Campillo.

Image 2: Plenary session “Economy of dementia: beyond catastrophic forecasts”, led by Adelina Comas.

Regarding the social agenda, when we tried to fit availability, capacities, logistics and budget, we realized that the numerous and brilliant ideas collected during the months of planning were reduced very considerably. It was not easy to find a suitable combination of spaces with sufficient capacity to host the Conference dinner. Other aspects, such as the guided tour of the historic center, were easier to organize thanks to the city’s own charms and we believe with good results.

Image 3: During breaks, networks and reunion of friends.

If things went reasonably well it is thanks to the involvement of numerous teams of people, institutions and sponsors and I would not like to end this chronicle without special thanks to the host institution, University of Girona and to the members of the Organizing Committee. I also cannot fail to mention the support and excellent harmony with the Board of Directors, the Scientific Committee and the technical secretariat of AES and in particular with Anna, Laia, Sergio, Roberto and Oriol. Working together in the organization of the Conference and seeing all the AES machinery operate from behind the scenes was a really interesting experience.

Finally, we want to wish good luck to the new Organizing Committee of the AES XLIII Conference. Nacho, we are at your disposal for whatever you need, and we hope you enjoy this intense, but at the same time exciting, stage.

And there’s a little less left until the reunion in La Laguna!