International Network Health Policy and Reform

By Sophia Schlette

The Bertelsmann Stiftung established the International Network Health Policy and Reform to revitalize the search for sustainable, affordable solutions for reform of the German healthcare system that show promise for durable consensus. Health policy experts from 20 countries report on current health reform ideas, approaches to reform and their effects. They also investigate the interactions and power relationships among stakeholders.

Spain: "Integration of medical and social care"

In Spain, for example, we can see how the integration of medical and social care improves care for people who need support in both areas. Teams whose members come from primary healthcare and social services centers operate with a jointly developed case management method. Increasingly, they use modern information technology to coordinate and improve their work.

Prevention as a challenge for all of society

France, England and New Zealand demonstrate how a rigorous campaign to focus healthcare policy on public health can make wellness promotion and preventative approaches the standard for effective care. As a result, health goals that begin with prevention successfully take their place in the healthcare system alongside medical science's traditional focus on disease and curative treatment. In France, for example, prevention is anchored as an important goal in a five-year plan for public health. And in New Zealand, Primary Health Organizations have been given responsibility for offering preventative services to disadvantaged population groups -- for example, low-income New Zealanders and the Maori, the island nation's aboriginal inhabitants.

Our English-language Website www.healthpolicymonitor.org provides extensive reports, sorted by country, topic and outcomes.