International profiles of health care systems

This publication presents overviews of the health care systems of Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States. Each overview covers health insurance, public and private financing, health system organization and governance, health care quality and coordination, disparities, efficiency and integration, use of information technology and evidence-based practice, cost containment, and recent reforms and innovations. In addition, summary tables provide data on a number of key health system characteristics and performance indicators, including overall health care spending, hospital spending and utilization, health care access, patient safety, care coordination, chronic care management, disease prevention, capacity for quality improvement, and public views.

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Context for successful quality improvement

"Building on a series of thought pieces – published by the Health Foundation in Perspectives on context – this best evidence review combines the ideas of receptive and non-receptive contexts for change, with a psychological perspective and the proposition that social context is the key facilitator of quality improvement. The review also considers context at structural levels within the health care system:

• macro – the system level
• meso – the organisation level
• micro – the clinical team level.

Crucially, the review considers how all of these factors combine to impact upon the success and sustainability of quality improvement efforts."

Context for successful quality improvement
N Fulop, G Robert
The Health Foundation
October 2015

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Economic crisis, health systems and health in Europe

"This report from the WHO looks at the 2008 economic crisis and how it has reinforced the understanding that fiscal pressures threaten health and health system performance. The report focuses on a study of over 45 countries’ experiences and policy responses, to address key questions of how different European countries dealt with the crisis and how this affected the performance of healthcare systems, as well as the population’s health."

Economic crisis, health systems and health in Europe: Country experience
A Maresso, et al. (eds).
World Health Organization
September 2015

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Redefining health care systems

"This book provides a scientific and personal perspective on health services research over the last half-century. Its purpose is to suggest how that science base, constructed over decades of sustained effort, can stimulate innovative thinking about how to make health care systems safer, more efficient, more cost-effective, and more patient-centered even as they respond to the needs of diverse communities."

Redefining health care systems
RH Brook
RAND Corporation
2015

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Building primary care in a changing Europe

"It is expected that primary care can help health systems become more responsive to changing health needs; offer more integrated care delivery; and increase the efficiency of the system overall."

Building primary care in a changing Europe
DS Kringos, WGW Boerma, A Hutchinson, RB Saltman (eds)
World Health Organization
March 2015

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Guide to the healthcare system in England

This guide has been written to explain about all the different organisations that "play a key role in making the NHS what it is."

Guide to the healthcare system in England
NHS England
May 2013

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Exploring the dynamics of physician engagement and leadership for health system improvement

"The purpose of this literature review was to synthesize the existing knowledge regarding physician engagement and leadership and to identify key recommendations to enhance physician leadership skills, physician alignment with other components of the healthcare system, and the capacity to foster and improve the accountability of physicians for improved organizational and system performance."

Exploring the dynamics of physician engagement and leadership for health system improvement: prospects for Canadian healthcare systems
J-L Denis, et al.
GETOSS
April 2013

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Moving toward a high performance health care system

"The Commission recommends a synergistic strategy that reflects the need to address health spending in both the public and private sectors, and to involve providers, consumers, and payers in improving system performance."

Confronting costs: stabilizing U.S. health spending while moving toward a high performance health care system 
The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System
January 2013

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