Total: 933
How can European health systems support investment in and the implementation of population health strategies?
Key messagesPolicy issue and associated policy challenges• Population health is influenced by a variety of factors, many of whichrequire action outside the health system.• The health and socioeconomic costs of the key contributors to poor healthin Europe are substantial. Many of these health problems...
Where are the patients in decision-making about their own care?
The policy issue: patient engagementOccasionally, all citizens have to make important health decisions that affecthealth outcomes. Strategies to support patient education and engagementshould therefore be a fundamental plank of health policy. Also, patients canplay an important role in understanding the ...
How can the impact of health technology assessments be enhanced?
Policy issues• Health technology assessment (HTA) is an important tool for informing effective regulation of the diffusion and use of health technologies.• The key policy issues surrounding the use of HTA fall into three areas: (a) the bodies, decision-makers and other stakeholders involved, (b) the ...
Policy brief: when do vertical (stand-alone) programmes have a place in health systems?
The terms vertical and integrated are widely used in health service delivery, but
each describes a range of phenomena. In practice, the dichotomy between
them is not rigid, and the extent of verticality or integration varies between
programmes – including (1) a vertically funded, managed, delivered and...
Policy brief: how can chronic disease management programmes operate across care settings and providers?
Improved health care, lifestyle changes and changing demography mean that
more people are living longer and often with chronic diseases that cannot
currently be cured. Advances in health care that support longer life are to be
celebrated, but health care systems cannot cope with the increasing incidence
...
Integrated Health Care for People with Chronic Conditions: a policy brief
Clinical research has led to spectacular developments in health care. It has provided us
with knowledge about how to prevent diseases, like heart disease, how to reduce the
consequences of disease, such as complications of diabetes, and to alleviate symptoms,
such as those of lung disease, and how to reh...
Policy brief: how can the migration of health service professionals be managed so as to reduce any negative effects on supply?
The international migration of health professionals has been a growingfeature of the global health agenda since the late 1990s. In Europe, theaccession of more countries to the European Union (EU) since 2004 hasincreased the scope for mobility among health workers and raisedadditional issues within the E...
Policy brief: how can optimal skill mix be effectively implemented and why?
Skill-mix initiatives focus on changing professional roles - directly and indirectly.They change roles directly through extension of roles or skills, delegation, andthe introduction of a new type of worker; they change them indirectly throughmodifications of the interface between services - that is, wher...
Policy brief: do lifelong learning and revalidation ensure that physicians are fit to practise?
In some countries, pressure is growing to demonstrate that practising physicians
continue to meet acceptable standards, driven in part by concerns that the
knowledge obtained during basic training may rapidly become out of date. This
takes various forms, from expectations – in some cases backed by vari...