Abstract
Much work about health reform and systems improvement in healthcare looks at shortcomings and problems that every system faces. Few comparative international studies of health systems include a sufficiently wide selection of low-, middle- and high-income countries in their analysis. We address these issues by examining recent work which involved the reform and improvement efforts of 60 countries, focused on them each providing a case study of success.
We use this extensive source material, a compendium of these success stories in a book to be published in 2018, and derive, through a grounded analysis of them, nine themes which have widespread application beyond the boundaries of any one health system: Improving policy, coverage and governance, Enhancing the quality of care, Keeping patients safe, Regulating standards and accreditation, Organizing care at the macro-level, Organizing care at the mesoand micro-level, Developing workforces and resources, Harnessing technology and IT, and Making collaboratives and partnerships work. These universal themes provide a model of what constitutes success across this wide sample of health systems, offering a store of knowledge about the way successful reforms and improvement initiatives can be articulated and used as a
source of learning about change across the borders of health systems. Whether low-, middle- or high-income countries, researchers, policymakers, managers and other stakeholders have a lot to learn from each other, across their bounded interests, about how to improve healthcare and health systems. This work acts as a counterbalance to the usual way of assessing reform and systems improvement, which is to critique progress, or study only one or a handful of countries. It is a more balanced approach to consider where achievements are being made across healthcare, and what we can do to replicate and spread successful exemplars internationally.
We use this extensive source material, a compendium of these success stories in a book to be published in 2018, and derive, through a grounded analysis of them, nine themes which have widespread application beyond the boundaries of any one health system: Improving policy, coverage and governance, Enhancing the quality of care, Keeping patients safe, Regulating standards and accreditation, Organizing care at the macro-level, Organizing care at the mesoand micro-level, Developing workforces and resources, Harnessing technology and IT, and Making collaboratives and partnerships work. These universal themes provide a model of what constitutes success across this wide sample of health systems, offering a store of knowledge about the way successful reforms and improvement initiatives can be articulated and used as a
source of learning about change across the borders of health systems. Whether low-, middle- or high-income countries, researchers, policymakers, managers and other stakeholders have a lot to learn from each other, across their bounded interests, about how to improve healthcare and health systems. This work acts as a counterbalance to the usual way of assessing reform and systems improvement, which is to critique progress, or study only one or a handful of countries. It is a more balanced approach to consider where achievements are being made across healthcare, and what we can do to replicate and spread successful exemplars internationally.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | 11th Organizational Behaviour in Health Care (OBHC) Conference |
| Subtitle of host publication | Proceedings |
| Publisher | Society for Studies in Organizing Healthcare |
| Pages | 1-26 |
| Number of pages | 26 |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
| Event | 11th International Organisational Behaviour in Healthcare Conference 2018 - Montreal, Canada Duration: 13 May 2018 → 16 May 2018 |
Conference
| Conference | 11th International Organisational Behaviour in Healthcare Conference 2018 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Canada |
| City | Montreal |
| Period | 13/05/18 → 16/05/18 |