AIM and its member organisations strongly welcome the European Commission’s initiative to develop an EU Plan for Cardiovascular Health. As an association of solidarity based, nonprofit health funds and insurers, we witness daily the profound impact of cardiovascular diseases on people, workplaces, and public finances.

We advocate a targeted EU framework that ensures a core set of high quality actions is effectively implemented across all Member States, while allowing flexibility for local adaptation. This approach guarantees progress that is both meaningful and comparable.

Across Europe we see persistent, solvable challenges:
• Many patients discontinue or take antihypertensive medicines irregularly within the first year after diagnosis.
• Heart failure patients face a high risk of readmission after hospital discharge.
• Health information is often hard to understand, and care gaps persist for women and lower income groups.

These shared problems require a shared, practical response. We call on the Commission to establish a clear framework built on four pillars:

Embed adherence support as part of primary care
For newly diagnosed hypertension, primary care should include:
• funding for counselling by nurses or pharmacists;
• simple reminders via SMS or app;
• use of single pill combinations where appropriate.
This must be combined with a simple EU wide adherence metric, Proportion of Days Covered (PDC), measured at 6 and 12 months and always linked to blood pressure targets.

Strengthen post discharge care in heart failure
A minimum telemonitoring offer should include:
• risk stratification and scheduled remote reviews;
• clear escalation rules and structured patient education;
• basic interoperability between devices and apps.
Payment should be partially linked to outcomes such as reduced readmission rates.

Integrate health literacy and gender sensitivity into care pathways
Achieve this through:
• plain language discharge notes and medication calendars;
• the “teach back” method to confirm patient understanding;
• binding gender sensitive standards and outcome reviews by sex, age, and socioeconomic status.

Focus additional support on those with the highest needs
Use routine data to identify the 10 percent of patients with the most complex cardiovascular conditions and offer a bundled package, adherence support, telemonitoring, and referral to social support.

For success, the plan must rest on robust measurement and a commitment to equity. We recommend:
• EU wide measurement of adherence, blood pressure control, readmissions, and patient reported outcomes;
• public reporting of all results, broken down by sex, age, and socioeconomic status to make gaps visible and actionable;
• baseline interoperability standards to avoid vendor lock in, and clear, secure data governance.

This is a call for an EU level strategy with national implementation. Member programmes have already shown that these practical supports improve adherence and outcomes. AIM stands ready to support the Commission in delivering a high impact cardiovascular plan that raises control rates, reduces avoidable hospitalisations, and advances health equity for all