The Economic and Social Research Institute has said that current health care practices will become increasingly unsustainable with Ireland's growing and ageing population.
A report on demand for health care up to 2021 says a significant reconfiguration of services will be needed including a shift in care from acute hospitals to the community.
Read the full ESRI report
The report predicts that the population will grow to over 5m people by 2021 with a big increase in the number of older people.
Heart disease, diabetes and cancer cases will rise by 12%.
The ageing population will result in the number of prescriptions in State schemes doubling to over 110m items a year.
It says health care practices will become unsustainable and a shift from hospital to community care will require major hospital reforms.
There will be more day cases, patients will have shorter hospital stays and out-patient consultations could rise by 25%.
An extra 1,800 GPs will be needed to bring the supply of family doctors to the EU average.
The ESRI says that while levels of disability in older people will decrease, an extra 13,000 residential, long-term care places will be required.
