Healthcare Systems

In this book, we invited 146 authors with expertise in health policy, systems design, management, research, or practice, from each of the countries included, to consider health reforms or systems improvements in their country or region. The resulting case studies, of 52 individual countries and five regional groupings, cover 152 countries or territories, or three-quarters of the world's nations. Each chapter author was asked to think 5-15 years into the future and make a prediction on how their health system could be strengthened as a result of the successful unfolding of their case study.
The types of projects our authors have chosen to explicate into the future are wide-ranging. They vary from e-consultation services in Estonia, achieving universal health coverage in Argentina and Mexico, reforming long-term care in the Netherlands, reassessing care for the aging population and the frail elderly in Australia, streamlining the health system through Lean Thinking in Nigeria, using regulation to improve care in South Africa, developing a new accreditation model in Turkey, through to a critique of physician specialization in Russia and applying IT initiatives to improve care in China, Lebanon, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Wales.
Chapter writers recognized that the improvement work they were doing was part of a moving target. There was general agreement that the effective use of limited resources and overcoming hurdles and constraints were crucial to enhancing health systems in order to deliver better care over the medium term. While some initiatives required considerable funding, many were relatively inexpensive. These case studies demonstrate ways in which fruitful application of partnerships and creativity can make considerable gains in strengthening healthcare delivery systems.
Features
The third book in a series on international health reform
Involves 146 contributing authors, five regional editors, a series editor and a highly skilled support team to explore sustainable improvement in health systems in the future
Encompasses a time horizon of the next 5-15 years
Covers 152 countries or territories, with 52 individual countries and an analysis of five regional groupings comprising 100 countries

Jeffrey Braithwaite, Paul G. Shekelle, Samir Al-Adawi

Preface Acknowledgments About the Editors About the Contributors Contributors Introduction Part I The Americas1Argentina: Achieving Universal Coverage2 Brazil: Patient Safety: Distance-Learning Contribution3 Canada: The Future of Health Systems: Personalization 4 Chile: The Struggle for an Integrated Health Insurance System5 Guyana: Paradigm Shift: From Institutional Care to Community-Based Mental Health Services 6 Mexico: Leveraging Conditional Cash Transfers and Universal Health Coverage to Tackle Non-Communicable Diseases 7 Trinidad and Tobago: Nurse Training: A Competency-Based Approach 8 The United States of America: The U.S. Healthcare System: A Vision for the Future9 Venezuela: Learning from Failure and Leveraging Technology: Innovations for Better CarePart II Africa10 Namibia: Lessons from Patient Involvement in HIV Care: A Paradigm for Patient Activation and Involvement across Health Systems11 Nigeria: Doing More with Less: Lean Thinking in the Health System12 South Africa: Regulated Standards: Implementation and Compliance13 Rwanda: Embracing One Health as a Strategy to Emerging Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control14 Africa: Equity for All: A Global Health Perspective for the ContinentPart III Europe15 Austria: Primary Healthcare Centers: A Silver Bullet?16 Denmark: Patient-Reported Outcomes: Putting the Patient First17 England: Getting Personal? Personal Health Budgets18 Estonia: e-Consultation Services: Cooperation between Family Doctors and