BACKGROUND This paper analyzes progress made toward the integration of the French health care system for the older and chronically ill population. POLICIES Over the last 10 years, the French health care system has been principally influenced by two competing linkage models that failed to integrate social and health care services: local information and coordination centers, governed by the soc...

This perspective explores how transportation decision-making can better support public health objectives, including reduced crashes and pollution emissions and increased physical activity. Conventional transportation planning tends to overlook negative health impacts resulting from increased motor vehicle travel and potential health benefits from shifts to alternative modes. Raising the priorit...

government is pushing ahead with a sweeping package of reforms that would radically overhaul funding arrangements for the nation’s public hospitals. The plan would see the federal government assume primary responsibility for the cost of running Australia’s public hospitals, which have historically been administered by the states and territories. It would also set new federal pricing and perform...

This paper reviews Latin American neoliberal health reforms sponsored by the IMF and the World Bank, and analyzes the impact on the region of decentralization and privatization, the two basic components of the reforms. The second part of the paper examines in some detail the Chilean and Colombian reforms, the two countries that have implemented closely the principles of the neoliberal reform. T...

Decentralisation continues to re-appear in health system reform across the world. Evaluation of these reforms reveals how research on decentralisation continues to evolve. In this paper, we examine the theoretical foundations and empirical references which underpin current approaches to studying decentralisation in health systems.

Over the past two decades, Croatian social health insurance system has undergone a number of reforms that were aimed at addressing the rising financial gap between the demand for health care and available public resources. The single most important observation regarding its development until 2008 is that, while attempting to provide quick fix solutions to worrying financial performance, the imp...

Colorado, Minnesota, and Vermont are pioneering innovative health care pay­ment and delivery system reforms. While the states are pursuing different models, all three are working to align incentives between health care payers and providers to better coordi­nate care, enhance prevention and disease management, reduce avoidable utilization and total costs, and improve health outcomes. Colorado an...