This paper examines aspects of the policy environment and market characteristics of the Swedish pharmaceutical sector, assesses the degree to which Sweden has achieved certain policy goals, and puts forth some key findings and conclusions. Thanks to...

This paper examines aspects of the policy environment and market characteristics of the Swiss pharmaceutical sector, and assesses the degree to which Switzerland has achieved certain policy goals. In Switzerland, pharmaceutical spending has not been...

This study presents the results of a joint analysis of patterns of consumption, expenditure, and unit expenditure for a core set of drugs aimed at preventing and treating cardiovascular disease. The current study examines the relationships among...

This paper reviews policies in the area of healthy ageing. With the ageing of OECD countries’ population over coming decades, maintaining health in old age will become increasingly important. Successful policies in this area can increase the...

Major disparities in the cost of health care have made the pricing of specialist and hospital services a contentious issue in South Africa, particularly in the private sector. To help inform policy debate, this paper profiles selected experiences on...

Despite universal public insurance coverage, private health insurance (PHI) covers almost half of the Australian population – a high coverage rate in comparison with most other OECD countries. Reflecting the belief that a well-functioning health care...

While France has a universal public health insurance system, the coverage it provides is incomplete and the vast majority the French population has private complementary health insurance. Among OECD countries, the share of health care financed by...

This paper analyses the Irish private health insurance (PHI) market. It describes how PHI interacts with the public system, and assesses its contribution to equity, efficiency and responsiveness of the health system. The analysis identifies some of...

Governments often look to private health insurance (PHI) as a possible means of addressing some health system challenges. For example, they may consider enhancing its role as an alternative source of health financing and a way to increase system...

Private health insurance (PHI) is the sole source of primary health coverage for a third of the Netherlands’ population earning above a set income threshold. Social insurance (together with limited public (tax-based financing) is the main source of...

In recent years, China has seen an unprecedented expansion of health insurance for its population in its quest to achieve universal health coverage. By 2011, 95% of the Chinese population was insured up from less than 50% in 2005 through public or...

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...

In 2017, the “Sláintecare Report” proposed a comprehensive overhaul of the Irish health system including a reform proposal to phase out private practice in public hospitals to end the unequal treatment of public and private patients – private...

The purpose of the System of Health AccountsChanges in health systems and concomitant health policy questions have been challenging the traditional system of health expenditure statistics over the last couple of decades. What are the major factors...

An important potential contribution to the efficient use of the health workforce, is the possibility of ‘skill mix’ changes. ‘Skill mix’ is a relatively broad term which can refer to the mix of staff in the workforce or the demarcation of roles and...

The landscape of health services delivery is undergoing significant transformation from fragmented and disease-centred toward integrated and people-centred care. Health workers find themselves at the centre of this transformation that demands from...

The Ageing-Related Diseases study compares health care systems by examining treatment trends and health outcomes on a disease-by-disease basis. Most of the day-to-day decisions that determine health care system performance are made in treating...

Policy-makers responsible for publicly-funded drug programmes face continual pressures between the demand to accommodate a steady stream of new and more effective drugs and the ongoing requirement to control costs.In the face of these pressures, a...

The strengthening of health data infrastructure and governance is a policy priority of the OECD. This report presents findings from the 2019-20 OECD survey of health data development, use and governance. Health ministries and health data authorities...

Safety governance refers to the approaches taken to minimise the risk for patient harm across an entity or system. It typically comprises steering and rule-making functions such as policies, regulations and standards. To date, governance has focused...