The Initiative for Health and Health Services in Greece, under the name Casus Sanitatis, is the merger of efforts by scientists and healthcare organizations to document and actively converge on major issues of national health policy.
In this context, the Casus Sanitatis Initiative organized a series of consensus panels in 2003 on the quality of health and healthcare services in Volos, Chania, and Patras, focusing on (a) the evaluation of pharmaceutical and biomedical technology, (b) evidence-based healthcare, and (c) the organization, management, and administration of healthcare services, respectively.

This process, aiming to seek active convergence and consensus - although not common in our country - is extremely necessary for the integration of scientific knowledge and policy intervention, so that national health policy serves the criteria of (social) equality, (medical) effectiveness, and (economic) efficiency.

This edition is a typical sample of this effort and serves - in addition to the obvious contribution to scientific documentation - the need for a new culture in the relationships of those involved in shaping and making decisions in health policy in our country. [...]

(from the foreword of the editors)