This paper reports on trends in life expectancy in the 28 EU countries and some other high-income OECD countries, and examines potential explanations for the slowdown in improvements in recent years. The slowdown in improvements in life expectancy...

In the 21st century care, the old paradigm “because the doctor said so” no longer holds. Individuals are now seeking ways to understand their health options and take more control over their health decisions. But this is not an easy task....

Building on published patient safety research literature, this paper aims to broaden the existing knowledge base on safety lapses occurring in primary and ambulatory care settings.The findings of this paper show that safety lapses in primary and...

Poor adherence to medications affects approximately half of the patient population, leading to severe health complications, premature deaths, and an increased use of healthcare services. The three most prevalent chronic conditions – diabetes,...

The incentive structures produced by different institutional arrangements in health systems are important determinants of their performance, and can explain some of the differences in cross-country performance patterns.This paper proposes an approach...

In response to observed growing inequalities in income and other dimensions of well-being, including health, the OECD launched an initiative on Inclusive Growth in 2012. The objective was to help governments find ways to make economic growth more...

The OECD has been leading the work on international comparisons of patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) across its member states for over a decade. This paper synthesises national developments in relation to measuring and monitoring PREMs...

OECD countries face the multiple challenges of rapidly ageing societies with the associated rise in chronic diseases and the ever-present threat from new or evolving communicable diseases. This is within the context of seeking better value for money...

Prevalence of non-communicable diseases has increased in past decades in the OECD. These conditions have many risk factors, including poor quality diet, insufficient physical activity, and excess sedentarism. These behaviours are also at the root of...

All countries are investing in the development of electronic health (clinical) records, but only some countries are moving forward the possibility of data extraction for research, statistics and other uses that serve the public interest. This study...

Many OECD countries have undergone reforms over the past decade to introduce advanced roles for nurses in primary care to improve access to care, quality of care and/or to reduce costs. This working paper provides an analysis of these nurse role...

The health, social and economic consequences of poor mental health are substantial. More attention is focusing now on the development of actions to promote better mental health and wellbeing and prevent mental ill-health. This paper provides an...

About one in ten patients are harmed during health care. This paper estimates the health, financial and economic costs of this harm. Results indicate that patient harm exerts a considerable global health burden. The financial cost on health systems...

Across the OECD, healthcare spending has typically outpaced economic growth in recent decades. While such spending has improved health outcomes, there are concerns about the financial sustainability of this upward trend, particularly as healthcare...

Hospitals are the most expensive component of OECD health care systems, accounting for around one third of total health care expenditure. Given growing pressures on government budgets, this is an area of expenditure that has already been, and will...

This report presents the first international quantification and comparison of levels of social protection for long-term care (LTC) in 14 OECD and EU countries. Focusing on five scenarios with different LTC needs and services, it quantifies the cost...

Health care expenditure per person, after accounting for changes in overall price levels, began to slow in many OECD countries in the early-to-mid 2000s, well before the economic and fiscal crisis. Using available estimates from the OECD’s System of...

Norway is one of the top spenders on health care among OECD countries in per capita terms but much closer to the average when seen as a share of GDP. The question is to what extent these two key measures are compatible, and how Norway really measures...

Universal health coverage has been achieved in nearly all OECD countries, providing the population with access to a defined range of goods and services. This paper provides detailed descriptions of how countries delineate the range of benefits...

Out-of-hours (OOH) services provide urgent primary care when primary care physician (PCP) offices are closed, most often from 5pm on weekdays and all day on weekends and holidays. Based on a policy survey (covering 27 OECD countries) and the existing...