The European Pathway Association is an international network of researchers, managers and clinicians who want to share knowledge on the healthcare management concept of clinical / care pathways.

The idea for a European Pathway Association was suggested by Kris Vanhaecht, Catholic University Leuven, Belgium and Massimiliano Panella, Piedmonte University, Italy, during the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQUA) 2003 conference in Dallas.

The European Pathway Association (E-P-A.org) was launched on September 16 & 17, 2004, in Jesi, near Ancona (Italy). The first Workshop on the European Focus on Clinical Pathways was organized by the Agenzia Regionale Sanitaria di Regione Marche under the supervision of Prof. Francesco Di Stanislao, director Agenzia Regionale Sanitaria and Dr. Andrea Gardini, board member of ISQUA and President of the Italian Society for Quality in Health Care.

On October 20, 2004 board members met during the ISQUA Amsterdam Conference. During this meeting the E-P-A survey on the prevalence and use of clinical / care pathways was finalised.

During the Integrated Care Pathway Conference in June 2005 in London, the board members discussed the results of the E-P-A survey. The results of this survey were presented during this international conference and will be published internationally in 2006.

The Yahoo group "EPA on Pathways" is the official communication channel of the E-P-A. This group is managed by two of our board members.

In December 2005 the board members met in Ljubliana, Slovenia. During that board meeting the statutes of E-P-A were developed. We decided to open E-P-A to individual members and members will be able to join for free. Members will receive newsletters with up-to-date information on the concept and methodology of care pathways.

The board members are writing a Position Paper on Clinical / Care Pathways and are preparing an international conference (for more info click here).

You can here [17 KB] download the report on the E-P-A activities 2004-2006.