Health Reforms Across The World: The Experience Of Twelve Small And Medium-sized Nations With Changing Their Healthcare Systems

Health Reforms Across The World: The Experience Of Twelve Small And Medium-sized Nations With Changing Their Healthcare Systems
Author: Kieke G Okma
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2020-02-24
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 981120893X

This book presents the health reform experiences over the past three decades of twelve small and medium-sized nations that are not often included in international comparative studies in this field. The major conclusion of the study is that despite many similarities in policy goals, policy challenges and in the menu of policy options for countries that seek to offer universal coverage to their population, the health reforms of the nations in this book did not converge into one direction or model. However, we found several widespread policy experiences that are relevant for others, too.For example, user fees are unpopular everywhere. Governments often try to soften the consequences by exempting large groups of users, thus largely defeating the very purpose of those fees.As a second example, the introduction of new payment modes for medical care — like the shift from fee for service to case-based payment — took much longer than originally expected everywhere, and also failed to deliver their promises of improved transparency or efficiency gains A third example is that proposals are for universal coverage often ignore the challenges of implementing new financing models that elsewhere took decades if not centuries to develop.The conclusions contain both empirical findings and theoretical conclusions of interest to policy-makers and scholars of international comparison. It is accessible for academics, healthcare managers and students as well as a wider audience of readers interested in the changes in healthcare across the world.

Health Reforms Across the World: The Experience of Twelve Small and Medium-sized Nations with Changing Their Healthcare Systems

Health Reforms Across the World: The Experience of Twelve Small and Medium-sized Nations with Changing Their Healthcare Systems
Author: Kieke Okma
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2021-10-21
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9789811252242

This book presents the health reform experiences over the past three decades of twelve small and medium-sized nations that are not often included in international comparative studies in this field. The major conclusion of the study is that despite many similarities in policy goals, policy challenges and in the menu of policy options for countries that seek to offer universal coverage to their population, the health reforms of the nations in this book did not converge into one direction or model. However, we found several widespread policy experiences that are relevant for others, too. For example, user fees are unpopular everywhere. Governments often try to soften the consequences by exempting large groups of users, thus largely defeating the very purpose of those fees. As a second example, the introduction of new payment modes for medical care - like the shift from fee for service to case-based payment - took much longer than originally expected everywhere, and also failed to deliver their promises of improved transparency or efficiency gains A third example is that proposals are for universal coverage often ignore the challenges of implementing new financing models that elsewhere took decades if not centuries to develop. The conclusions contain both empirical findings and theoretical conclusions of interest to policy-makers and scholars of international comparison. It is accessible for academics, healthcare managers and students as well as a wider audience of readers interested in the changes in healthcare across the world.

Six Countries, Six Reform Models: The Healthcare Reform Experience Of Israel, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland And Taiwan - Healthcare Reforms "Under The Radar Screen"

Six Countries, Six Reform Models: The Healthcare Reform Experience Of Israel, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland And Taiwan - Healthcare Reforms
Author: Kieke G Okma
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2009-12-23
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9814468401

This book presents the healthcare reform experiences of six small- to mid-sized, but dynamic, economies spanning the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe. Usually not given serious consideration in major international comparisons because of their small size, each in fact provides a fascinating case study that illuminates the understanding of the dynamics of healthcare reform. Although dissimilar in historical and cultural backgrounds, they share some important features: all faced very similar pressures for change in the 1970s and 1980s; all considered a very similar range of policy options; and all did not only discuss but actually implemented fundamental changes in their healthcare funding, organization, contracting and governance structures with strikingly different outcomes.All of the authors have lived and worked in one or more of the countries studied in this volume. The analytic frameworks they use reflect their broad range of professional and disciplinary backgrounds in health economics and political science. Beyond mere descriptions of reform processes and superficial analyses based on aggregate data from the usual OECD or WHO sources, they seek to understand — and explain — the variations in country experiences by examining the politico-socio-economic factors driving health reform as seen through the respective country lenses. In coming together in this unique international collaboration, they make an important contribution to the growing field of international comparative health policy studies.Contributors: Tsung-Mei Cheng (Princeton University, USA), David Chinitz (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel), Luca Crivelli and Iva Bolgiani (University of Lugano, Switzerland), Meng-Kin Lim (National University of Singapore, Singapore), Kieke G H Okma and Hans Maarse (Maastricht University, The Netherlands), Toni Ashton and Tim Tenbensel (University of Auckland, New Zealand).

Organising Care in a Time of Covid-19

Organising Care in a Time of Covid-19
Author: Justin Waring
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2021-11-08
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 3030826961

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to radical transformations in the organisation and delivery of health and care services across the world. In many countries, policy makers have rushed to re-organise care services to meet the surge demand of COVID-19, from re-purposing existing services to creating new ‘field’ hospitals. Such strategies signal important and sweeping changes in the organisation of both ‘COVID’ and ‘non-COVID’ care, whilst asking more fundamental questions about the long-term organisation of care ‘after COVID’. In some contexts, the pandemic has exposed the fragilities and vulnerabilities of care systems, whilst in others, it has shown how services are organised to be more resilient and adaptive to unanticipated pressures. The COVID-19 pandemic presents a rare opportunity to examine empirically and to develop new theoretical frameworks on how and why health systems adapt to such unusual and intense pressures. International contributors consider how responses to COVID-19 are transforming the organisation and governance of health and care services and explore questions around strategic leadership at local, regional, national and transnational level. The book offers unique insight and analysis on the dynamics of policy-making, the organisation and governance of care organisations, the role of technologies in governing, the changing role of professionals and the possibilities for more resilient care systems.

Health Care Reform Around the World

Health Care Reform Around the World
Author: Andrew Twaddle
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2002-06-30
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0313013039

Health care reforms around the world—from Europe and North America to Africa, Latin America and Asia—seem to all be market-oriented reforms driven by international business interests and right wing political parties. There seems to be a sudden and broad concern with the efficiency of medical care, with the assertion that democratically or professionally run systems are inherently inefficient. Far less concern is evident for the more traditional values held regarding medical care, effectiveness (or quality) and equity. The fact is that we have little good cross-national research that systematically addresses the reform issue. This book addresses that problem, and attempts to look at health care reforms in a number of countries, representing as wide a spectrum as possible, and using a common conceptual framework that allows for comparable information to be gathered and presented on each, despite differing levels of socio-economic development. The authors agreed on a set of models that were thought to provide reasonable guidance in answering the questions of the source of pressures for reform, the alternative modes of organization that have been found in the world in recent years, and the direction of change among those alternatives.

Comparative Government and Politics

Comparative Government and Politics
Author: John McCormick
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 524
Release: 2022-04-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1350932531

Offering a comprehensive introduction to the comparison of governments and political systems, this new edition helps students to understand not just the institutions and political cultures of their own countries but also those of a wide range of democracies and authoritarian regimes from around the world. This new edition offers: -A revised structure to aid navigation and understanding -New learning features, 'Using Theory' and 'Exploring Problems', designed to help students think comparatively -Empirical global examples, with increased coverage of non-Western scholarship and analyses -Coverage of important contemporary topics including: minorities; LGBTQ+ issues; identity politics; women in politics; political trust; populism; Covid-19. Featuring a wide range of engaging learning features, this book is an essential text for undergraduate and postgraduate courses on Comparative Politics, Comparative Government, Introduction to Politics and Introduction to Political Science.

Healthcare Reform, Quality and Safety

Healthcare Reform, Quality and Safety
Author: Jeffrey Braithwaite
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2015-03-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1472451422

This book offers a global perspective on healthcare reform and its relationship with efforts to improve quality and safety. It looks at the ways reforms have developed in 30 countries, and specifically the impact national reform initiatives have had on the quality and safety of care. It explores how reforms drive quality and safety improvement, and equally how they act to negate such goals. Every country included in this book is involved in a reform and improvement process, but each takes place in a particular social, cultural, economic and developmental context, leading to differing emphases and varied progress. Methods for tackling common problems - financing, efficiencies, effectiveness, evidence-based practice, institutional reforms, quality improvement, and patient safety initiatives - also differ. Representatives from each nation provide a chapter to convey their own situation. The editors draw a conclusion from these numerous contributions and synthesize the themes emerging into a coherent ‘lessons learned’ summary that delivers value to the numerous stakeholders. Healthcare Reform, Quality and Safety forms a compendium of the current ‘state of the art’ in global healthcare reform. This is the first book of its type, and offers a unique opportunity for cross-fertilization of ideas to the mutual benefit of countries involved in the project. The content will be of interest to governments, policymakers, managers and leaders, clinicians, teaching academics, researchers and students.

The Challenge of Health Sector Reform

The Challenge of Health Sector Reform
Author: A. Mills
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2000-11-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0230599818

New thinking about the management of public health services has stimulated a widespread movement for health sector reform across the world. This book examines the feasibility and desirability of common reforms in low income countries, based on in-depth case studies in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, and asks whether governments possess or can develop the capacities needed for these new and often complex roles. The book challenges conventional reform wisdom, and argues that reform approaches are needed that are more sensitive to the institutional characteristics of individual countries.

Six Countries, Six Health Reform Models?: Health Care Reform in Chile, Israel, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan and The Netherlands

Six Countries, Six Health Reform Models?: Health Care Reform in Chile, Israel, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan and The Netherlands
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
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This research contribution presents a diagnosis of the health reform experience of six small and mid-sized industrial democracies: Chile, Israel, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan and The Netherlands during the last decades of the twentieth century. It addresses the following questions: Why have these six countries, facing similar pressures to reform their health care systems, with similar options for government action, chosen very different pathways to restructure their health care? What did they do? And what happened after the implementation of those reforms? The article describes the current arrangements for funding, contracting and payment, ownership and administration (or "governance") of health care at the beginning of the 21st century, the origins of the health care reforms, the discussion and choice of policy options, processes of implementation and "after reform adjustments". The article looks at factors that help explain the variety in reform paths, such as national politics, dominant cultural orientations and the positions of major stakeholders.