While reforms in developed nations focus on reducing costs, fighting chronic disorders and increasing number of people under insurance cover; the developing nations need to reform their healthcare system through policies, medical infrastructure & technology, education and realization of right nutrition to lifestyle management. Reforms would also be driven by the fact that nations across the world are fighting fraud in health insurance. Acute & lifestyle diseases over time are also expected to be at reactive end of the reforms soon. To conclude, health systems worldwide are working to develop a patient-centric health economy that is consumer-driven, as seen in other industries. Consumerism will transform how healthcare is directed, delivered and financed in the coming years.
Trends driving healthcare reforms
The reforms that take place in health systems across the world obviously vary depending upon various trends within the nation. They are driven by economy of the country, average per capita income spent on healthcare, healthcare costs & expenditure, functioning of insurance industry within the nation, government support to the healthcare sector, research & development etc.
As witnessed by the large variety of different healthcare systems across the world, there are several different pathways that a country could take while making reforms. For example, the physicians in Germany have more bargaining power through professional organizations (i.e. physician associations). This ability to negotiate has an impact on reform efforts. Germany makes use of sickness funds, which citizens are obliged to join but are able to opt out if they come into very high income bracket. The Netherlands used a similar system but the financial threshold for opting out was lower.
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