Health systems in transition最新文献

This analysis of the United States health system reviews the developments in organization and governance, health financing, health-care provision, health reforms and health system performance. The US health system has both considerable strengths and notable weaknesses. It has a large and well-trained health workforce, a wide range of high-quality medical specialists as well as secondary and tertiary institutions, a robust health sector research program and, for selected services, among the best medical outcomes in the world. But it also suffers from incomplete coverage of its citizenry, health expenditure levels per person far exceeding all other countries, poor measures on many objective and subjective measures of quality and outcomes, an unequal distribution of resources and outcomes across the country and among different population groups, and lagging efforts to introduce health information technology. It is difficult to determine the extent to which deficiencies are health-system related, though it seems that at least some of the problems are a result of poor access to care. Because of the adoption of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the United States is facing a period of enormous potential change. Improving coverage is a central aim, envisaged through subsidies for the uninsured to purchase private insurance, expanded eligibility for Medicaid (in some states) and greater protection for insured persons. Furthermore, primary care and public health receive increased funding, and quality and expenditures are addressed through a range of measures. Whether the ACA will indeed be effective in addressing the challenges identified above can only be determined over time.

This analysis of the Armenian health system reviews the developments in organization and governance, health financing, healthcare provision, health reforms and health system performance since 2006. Armenia inherited a Semashko style health system on independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Initial severe economic and sociopolitical difficulties during the 1990s affected the population health, though strong economic growth from 2000 benefited the populations health. Nevertheless, the Armenian health system remains unduly tilted towards inpatient care concentrated in the capital city despite overall reductions in hospital beds and concerted efforts to reform primary care provision. Changes in health system financing since independence have been more profound, as out-of-pocket (OOP) payments now account for over half of total health expenditure. This reduces access to essential services for the poorest households - particularly for inpatient care and pharmaceuticals - and many households face catastrophic health expenditure. Improving health system performance and financial equity are therefore the key challenges for health system reform. The scaling up of some successful recent programmes for maternal and child health may offer solutions, but require sustained financial resources that will be challenging in the context of financial austerity and the low base of public financing.

In the last 20 years, demographic development in Bulgaria has been characterized by population decline, a low crude birth rate, a low fertility rate, a high mortality rate and an ageing population. A stabilizing political situation since the early 2000s and an economic upsurge since the mid-2000s were important factors in the slight increase of the birth and fertility rates and the slight decrease in standardized death rates. In general, Bulgaria lags behind European Union (EU) averages in most mortality and morbidity indicators. Life expectancy at birth reached 73.3 years in 2008 with the main three causes of death being diseases of the circulatory system, malignant neoplasms and diseases of the respiratory system. One of the most important risk factors overall is smoking, and the average standardized death rate for smoking-related causes in 2008 was twice as high as the EU15 average. The Bulgarian health system is characterized by limited statism. The Ministry of Health is responsible for national health policy and the overall organization and functioning of the health system and coordinates with all ministries with relevance to public health. The key players in the insurance system are the insured individuals, the health care providers and the third party payers, comprising the National Health Insurance Fund, the single payer in the social health insurance (SHI) system, and voluntary health insurance companies (VHICs). Health financing consists of a publicprivate mix. Health care is financed from compulsory health insurance contributions, taxes, outofpocket (OOP) payments, voluntary health insurance (VHI) premiums, corporate payments, donations, and external funding. Total health expenditure (THE) as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) increased from 5.3% in 1995 to 7.3% in 2008. At the latter date it consisted of 36.5% OOP payments, 34.8% SHI, 13.6% Ministry of Health expenditure, 9.4% municipality expenditure and 0.3% VHI. Informal payments in the health sector represent a substantial part of total OOP payments (47.1% in 2006). The health system is economically unstable and health care establishments, most notably hospitals, are suffering from underfunding. Planning of outpatient health care is based on a territorial principle. Investment for state and municipal health establishments is financed from the state or municipal share in the establishments capital. In the first quarter of 2009, health workers accounted for 4.9% of the total workforce. Compared to other countries, the relative number of physicians and dentists is particularly high but the relative number of nurses remains well below the EU15, EU12 and EU27 averages. Bulgaria is faced with increased professional mobility, which is becoming particularly challenging. There is an oversupply of acute care beds and an undersupply of longterm care and rehabilitation services. Health care reforms after 1989 focused predominantly on ambulatory care and the restructuring of the hos

Life expectancy in Sweden is high and the country performs well in comparisons related to disease-oriented indicators of health service outcomes and quality of care. The Swedish health system is committed to ensuring the health of all citizens and abides by the principles of human dignity, need and solidarity, and cost-effectiveness. The state is responsible for overall health policy, while the funding and provision of services lies largely with the county councils and regions. The municipalities are responsible for the care of older and disabled people. The majority of primary care centres and almost all hospitals are owned by the county councils. Health care expenditure is mainly tax funded (80%) and is equivalent to 9.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) (2009). Only about 4% of the population has voluntary health insurance (VHI). User charges fund about 17% of health expenditure and are levied on visits to professionals, hospitalization and medicines. The number of acute care hospital beds is below the European Union (EU) average and Sweden allocates more human resources to the health sector than most OECD countries. In the past, the Achilles heel of Swedish health care included long waiting times for diagnosis and treatment and, more recently, divergence in quality of care between regions and socioeconomic groups. Addressing long waiting times remains a key policy objective along with improving access to providers. Recent principal health reforms over the past decade relate to: concentrating hospital services; regionalizing health care services, including mergers; improving coordinated care; increasing choice, competition and privatization in primary care; privatization and competition in the pharmacy sector; changing co-payments; and increasing attention to public comparison of quality and efficiency indicators, the value of investments in health care and responsiveness to patients needs. Reforms are often introduced on the local level, thus the pattern of reform varies across local government, although mimicking behaviour usually occurs.

The Health Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of a health system and of policy initiatives in progress or under development. This HiT is one of the first to be written on a subnational level of government and focuses on the Veneto Region of northern Italy. HiTs examine different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services and the role of the main actors in health systems; describe the institutional framework, process, content and implementation of health and health care policies; and highlight challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis. The Veneto Region is one of Italy's richest regions and the health of its resident population compares favourably with other regions in Italy. Life expectancy for both men and women, now at 79.1 and 85.2 years, respectively, is slightly higher than the national average, while mortality rates are comparable to national ones. The major causes of death are tumours and cardiovascular diseases. Under Italy's National Health Service, the organization and provision of health care is a regional responsibility and regions must provide a nationally defined (with regional input) basic health benefit package to all of their citizens; extra services may be provided if budgets allow. Health care is mainly financed by earmarked central and regional taxes, with regions receiving their allocated share of resources from the National Health Fund. Historically, health budget deficits have been a major problem in most Italian regions, but since the early 2000s the introduction of efficiency measures and tighter procedures on financial management have contributed to a significant decrease in the Veneto Regions health budget deficit.The health system is governed by the Veneto Region government (Giunta) via the Departments of Health and Social Services, which receive technical support from a single General Management Secretariat. Health care is provided by 21 local health and social care units, 2 hospital enterprises, 2 national hospitals for scientific research and private accredited providers. Major national health reform legislation in the 1990s started the process of regionalization of the health system and the introduction of managerial methods and quasi-market mechanisms into the National Health Service, a process that has been consolidated since the early 2000s under the framework of fiscal federalism. Future challenges for the Veneto Region include the sustainable provision of the basic health benefit package; the adaptation of services to meet changes in demand, particularly those associated with the ageing population and the incidence of chronic diseases; and the ever-present problem of keeping the regional health budget balanced.

The Health Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of a health system and of policy initiatives in progress or under development. HiTs examine different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services and the role of the main actors in health systems; describe the institutional framework, process, content and implementation of health and health care policies; and highlight challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis. The reform of health financing in the Republic of Moldova began in earnest in 2004 with the introduction of a mandatory health insurance (MHI) system. Since then, MHI has become a sustainable financing mechanism that has improved the technical and allocative efficiency of the system as well as overall transparency. This has helped to further consolidate the prioritization of primary care in the system, which has been bas ed on a family medicine model since the 1990s. Hospital stock in the country has been reduced since independence as the country inherited a Semashko health system with excessive infrastructure, but there is still room for efficiency gains, particularly through the consolidation of specialist services in the capital city. The rationalization of duplicated specialized services, therefore, remains a key challenge facing the Moldovan health system. Other challenges include health workforce shortages (particularly in rural areas) and improving equity in financing and access to care by reducing out of pocket (OOP) payments. OOP spending on health is dominated by the cost of pharmaceuticals and this is currently a core focus of reform efforts.

Wales is situated to the west of England, with a population of approximately 3 million (5% of the total for the United Kingdom), and a land mass of just over 20 000 km2. For several decades, Wales had a health system largely administered through the United Kingdom Governments Welsh Office, but responsibility for most aspects of health policy was devolved to Wales in a process beginning in 1999. Since then, differences between the policy approach and framework in England and Wales have widened. The internal market introduced in the United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS) has been abandoned in Wales, and seven local health boards (LHBs; supported by three specialist NHS trusts) now plan and provide all health services for their resident populations. Wales currently has more than 120 hospitals as part of an overall estate valued at 2.3 billion pounds. Total spending on health services increased in the first decade of the 21st century, but Wales now faces a period of financial retrenchment greater than in other parts of the United Kingdom as a result of the Welsh Governments decision not to afford the same degree of protection to health spending as that granted elsewhere. The health system in Wales continues to face some structural weaknesses that have proved resistant to reform for some time. However, there has been substantial improvement in service quality and outcomes since the end of the 1990s, in large part facilitated by substantial real growth in health spending. Life expectancy has continued to increase, but health inequalities have proved stubbornly resistant to improvement.

Denmark has a tradition of a decentralized health system. However, during recent years, reforms and policy initiatives have gradually centralized the health system in different ways. The structural reform of 2007 merged the old counties into fewer bigger regions, and the old municipalities likewise. The hospital structure is undergoing similar reforms, with fewer, bigger and more specialized hospitals. Furthermore, a more centralized approach to planning and regulation has been taking place over recent years. This is evident in the new national planning of medical specialties as well as the establishment of a nationwide accreditation system, the Danish Healthcare Quality Programme, which sets national standards for health system providers in Denmark. Efforts have also been made to ensure coherent patient pathways - at the moment for cancer and heart disease - that are similar nationwide. These efforts also aim at improving intersectoral cooperation. Financially, recent years have seen the introduction of a higher degree of activity-based financing in the public health sector, combined with the traditional global budgeting.A number of challenges remain in the Danish health care system. The consequences of the recent reforms and centralization initiatives are yet to be fully evaluated. Before this happens, a full overview of what future reforms should target is not possible. Denmark continues to lag behind the other Nordic countries in regards to some health indicators, such as life expectancy. A number of risk factors may be the cause of this: alcohol intake and obesity continue to be problems, whereas smoking habits are improving. The level of socioeconomic inequalities in health also continues to be a challenge. The organization of the Danish health care system will have to take a number of challenges into account in the future. These include changes in disease patterns, with an ageing population with chronic and long-term diseases; ensuring sufficient staffing; and deciding how to improve public health initiatives that target prevention of diseases and favour health improvements.

Over the last decade, Scotland's health system has increasingly diverged from the health system in England. Scotland has pursued an approach stressing integration and partnership among all parts of its NHS as opposed to an English approach in part driven by market forces. Comparatively fewer organizational and structural changes, in addition to consistent policy objectives, have provided a strong launching pad for achieving improvement. Substantial increases in funding have led to significant growth in the clinical workforce and numerous performance targets have been set to improve population health, the quality and outcomes of health care, and the efficiency of the health system. As a result, Scotland has made well-documented progress in terms of population health and the quality and effectiveness of care. However, a number of challenges remain. More progress is needed to close the gap in health status between Scotland and other developed countries, and to address persistent inequalities in health within Scotland. As in many other countries, increased fiscal pressures may make it difficult to maintain current levels of health care quantity and quality in future.

This analysis of the Latvian health system reviews recent developments in organization and governance, health financing, health care provision, health reforms and health-system performance. Latvia has been constantly reforming its health system for over two decades. After independence in 1991, Latvia initially moved to create a social health insurance type system. However, problems with decentralized planning and fragmented and inefficient financing led to this being gradually reversed, and ultimately the establishment in 2011 of a National Health Service type system. These constant changes have taken place against a backdrop of relatively poor health and limited funding, with a heavy burden for individuals; Latvia has one of the highest rates of out-of-pocket expenditure on health in the European Union (EU). The lack of financial resources resulting from the financial crisis has posed an enormous challenge to the government, which struggled to ensure the availability of necessary health care services for the population and to prevent deterioration of health status. Yet this also provided momentum for reforms: previous efforts to centralise the system and to shift from hospital to outpatient care were drastically accelerated, while at the same time a social safety net strategy was implemented (with financial support from the World Bank) to protect the poor from the negative consequences of user charges. However, as in any health system, a number of challenges remain. They include: reducing smoking and cardiovascular deaths; increasing coverage of prescription pharmaceuticals; reducing the excessive reliance on out-of-pocket payments for financing the health system; reducing inequities in access and health status; improving efficiency of hospitals through implementation of DRG-based financing; and monitoring and improving quality. In the face of these challenges at a time of financial crisis, one further challenge emerges: ensuring adequate funding for the health system through increased public expenditure on health.