Restructuring Health Care Systems in the Netherlands: The Institutional Heritage of Dutch Health Policy Reforms

Author(s):  
James Warner Björkman ◽  
Kieke G. H. Okma
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris Wallenburg ◽  
Jan-Kees Helderman ◽  
Patrick Jeurissen ◽  
Roland Bal

Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has put policy systems to the test. In this paper, we unmask the institutionalized resilience of the Dutch health care system to pandemic crisis. Building on logics of crisis decision-making and on the notion of ‘tact’, we reveal how the Dutch government initially succeeded in orchestrating collective action through aligning public health purposes and installing socio-economic policies to soften societal impact. However, when the crisis evolved into a more enduring one, a more contested policy arena emerged in which decision-makers had a hard time composing and defending a united decision-making strategy. Measures have become increasingly debated on all policy levels as well as among experts, and conflicts are widely covered in the Dutch media. With the 2021 elections ahead, this means an additional test of the resilience of the Dutch socio-political and health care systems.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Verspohl

<p>During the last 20 years, privatization<br />became an issue in health care. The neoliberal<br />market idea promised to increase<br />efficiency and responsiveness, while at the<br />same time relieving public budgets. European<br />countries have introduced all kind of market<br />instruments, reaching from internal markets,<br />over DRGs, to increased co-payments.<br />However, the welfare state literature<br />currently lacks a detailed explanation of<br />these different reforms.<br />All health care systems in the European<br />Union are affected by the same problem<br />pattern: demographic change, raising<br />demand, medical-technical innovations and<br />labour intensive services. Nonetheless, the<br />degree and form of privatization varies a lot.<br />This paper studies the power of ideas within<br />the framework of structural reform pressure<br />and institutional path-dependency. The<br />causes for privatization reforms are studied<br />in two countries representing the two ideal<br />types: the Netherlands for Social Health<br />Insurance and Sweden for the National<br />Health Service.</p>


2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (suppl 2) ◽  
pp. S133-S142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Gerlinger ◽  
Hans-Jürgen Urban

In the European Union (EU), health policy and the institutional reform of health systems have been treated primarily as national affairs, and health care systems within the EU thus differ considerably. However, the health policy field is undergoing a dynamic process of Europeanization. This process is stimulated by the orientation towards a more competitive economy, recently inaugurated and known as the Lisbon Strategy, while the regulatory requirements of the European Economic and Monetary Union are stimulating the Europeanization of health policy. In addition, the so-called open method of coordination, representing a new mode of regulation within the European multi-level system, is applied increasingly to the health policy area. Diverse trends are thus emerging. While the Lisbon Strategy goes along with a strategic upgrading of health policy more generally, health policy is increasingly used to strengthen economic competitiveness. Pressure on Member States is expected to increase to contain costs and promote market-based health care provision.


1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann L. Casebeer ◽  
Kathryn J. Hannah

A qualitative field study of health system reform in Alberta was undertaken to identify, describe, compare and contrast the processes of change management adopted and implemented as a result of legislated health policy shift. Chairs and chief executives of the new regional health authorities and provincial leaders managing the change processes within Alberta's health care system were interviewed. Components of change strategies important to the structure, process and impact of the health policy shift to a regionalized system of care were identified and analyzed. Stakeholders involved in managing change inside Alberta's health care system were able to consistently identify a range of issues important to beginning and sustaining health policy shift. These issues and insights did not come from the literature, but rather from experience. To test and share this experience further, it will be important to study more consciously the management of change in relation to expected outcomes. With so many natural experiments altering health care systems across Canada and beyond, a window of opportunity exists for researching both the quality and quantity of such change, comparing and sharing findings over time and, eventually, linking process to outcome.


2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 225-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E Scott ◽  
Anna Lee

There is an urgent need to develop global e-health policy in order both to facilitate and to manage the potential of e-health. As part of the Universitas 21 (U21) project in e-health, an evaluation of the status of global e-health policy was performed using a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). The analysis showed that the greatest threat to global e-health policy is the autonomous nature of domestic health-care systems. The greatest opportunity may be the prospect for nations and individuals to work together in establishing mechanisms necessary to offer health-care access through global e-health – a new 'global public good'. Full integration of e-health into existing health-care systems could be achieved in both a practical and a policy sense through global e-health policy initiatives that facilitate integration across jurisdictions. There is a pressing need to resolve a range of e-health policy issues, and a concomitant need for research that will inform and support the process. A process that adopts a global approach is recommended.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document