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Healthcare Systems & Services


Health International


Issue 4

European governments are under pressure to improve the quality of their healthcare systems, yet they worry about how they will afford what the public wants. Medical costs continue to rise, demographic trends point to an older and sicker population base, and the economic outlook in many countries does not give cause for optimism that national income will rise enough to sustain future health expenses. The various and well-intentioned reform measures that have been introduced have hardly made a dent in this problem.


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Articles

Facts and figures: Healthcare IT

The improvements in quality and cost effectiveness that European publics and governments are demanding of their healthcare systems can come about only through a substantial upgrade in information technology. Yet the barriers to implementation of a universal standardized IT capability are very high.

The Swiss way: Make the consumer feel the pain

Switzerland's healthcare system is expensive and rather inefficient but also highly effective. The system attempts to set up incentives to diminish moral hazard so that patients are obligated to understand the true costs of their care and to use service sparingly. Though little known, the Swiss arrangement holds elements of serious interest for advocates of consumer-directed care.

The rocky road toward increased efficiency in medical services

Legislators in Germany are intensifying competition in the inpatient care market in order to eliminate excess capacity in the hospital sector. Faced with the choice of becoming competitive or closing up shop, hospitals are forced to revamp their operations. The greatest potential for savings can be found in the area of medical services. At the same time, however, this also poses the greatest challenge.

Lean for hospitals: The quality perspective

To achieve a performance transformation in hospitals, administrators need to combine an economic strategy with a clinical strategy. The lean-manufacturing system addresses both needs. To be successful, however, this approach requires not just technical know-how but also a fundamental alteration in mind-sets and behaviors of the hospital's clinicians. We explore these two sides of the lean equation with the goal of raising the bar for medical quality across the board.

"Reform can bring upheavals to hospital finance"

Public hospitals throughout the continent will be subject to major financial disruptions as their national systemic reforms move forward. Britain's National Health Service hospitals are among the first to encounter these problems. The experience of British hospital managers offers some valuable lessons to their counterparts elsewhere.

Making clinical pathways work for doctors and nurses

Often discussed and written about, clinical pathways are less often implemented. Why not? There seem to be a lot of hurdles to overcome, mentality being one of them. We offer here some ideas to help executives understand how to make these tools work effectively in their hospitals.

"We've been able to cut the length of stay enormously"

Clinical pathways—planned courses of hospital treatment—offer healthcare policy makers the potential to be able to care for patients more effectively and, at the same time, more economically. Health Europe asked two pioneers in this field, Hans-Adolf Müller, chief of healthcare management at the German Federal Coal Miners' Insurance Fund, and Dr. Andreas Tecklenburg, vice president of healthcare at the Medical College of Hanover (MHC), about their experience in developing and implementing clinical pathways.

A practical approach to healthcare negotiations

Significant opportunities exist to claim and create value in healthcare negotiations through a combination of analysis, approach design, and role plays.

Portugal introduces private players to its public hospitals

If you seek a European country that has made great strides in its public health over the past three decades, look no further than Portugal. From 1970 to 2000, Portugal witnessed a significant improvement in the health status of the population, to the point that it is now close to the European average, according to OECD statistics. This article contains an interview with Dr. Jorge Abreu Simões, the president of Partnership Health, the PPP task force established by the Portuguese government in the Ministry of Health to supervise the first program for the health sector.

Healthcare in the Gulf: Opportunities for growth

The Gulf Cooperation Council countries are ripe for a major step forward in healthcare infrastructure. How they structure this rapidly developing industry will determine how attractive the region becomes to both external and internal private operators.

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