Primary Care in the Driver's Seat?: Organizational Reform in European Primary Care (European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies)

What is the best way to structure primary care services? How can coordination between primary care and other parts of health care systems be improved?How should new technologies be integrated into primary care?There is considerable agreement among national policy makers across Europe that in principle primary care should be the linchpin of a well-designed health care system. This agreement however does not carry over into the organizational mechanisms best suited to pursuing or achieving this common objective. Across western central and eastern Europe primary care is delivered through a wide range of institutional financial professional and clinical configurations. This book is a study of the reforms of primary care in Europe as well as their impacts on the broader co-ordination mechanisms within European health care systems. It also provides suggestions for effective strategies for future improvement in health care system reform.Primary Care in the Driver’s Seat is key reading for students studying health policy health economics public policy and management as well as health managers and policy makers. Contributors: Richard Baker University of Leicester; Sven-Eric Bergman Bergman and Dahlbäck AB Stockholm Sweden; Wienke Boerma Netherlands Institute of Health Services Research (NIVEL) in Utrecht Netherlands; Mats Brommels University of Helsinki and Karolinska Institute in Stockholm; Sweden; Michael Calnan University of Bristol; Diana Delnoij Netherlands Institute of Health Services Research (NIVEL) in Utrecht Netherlands; Anna Dixon London School of Economics and Political Science; Carl-Ardy Dubois University of Montreal Canada; Joan Gené Badia Catalan Institute of Health in Barcelona Spain; Bernhard Gibis National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) Berlin Germany; Stefan Greß Institute of Health Care Management of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Essen Germany; Peter Groenewegen Netherlands Institute of Health Services Research (NIVEL) and Utrecht University in Utrecht Netherlands; Jan Heyrman Catholic University Leuven (KULeuven) in Leuven Belgium; Jack Hutten Ministry of Health Welfare and Sports The Hague Netherlands; Michael Kidd University of Sydney; Australia; Mårten Kvist Laitila-Pyhäranta Health Centre in Laitila Finland; Miranda Laurant Centre for Quality of Care Research of the Universities of Nijmegen and Maastricht in Nijmegen Netherlands; Margus Lember University of Tartu in Tartu Estonia; Martin Marshall University of Manchester; Alison McCallum National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES) in Helsinki Finland and Karolinska Institute in Stockholm Sweden; Toomas Palu Europe and Central Asia Development Department of the World Bank in Washington DC USA; Ana Rico University of Oslo Norway; Ray Robinson London School of Economics and Political Science; Valentin Rusovich Department of General Practice of the Belarussian Medical Academy for Continuous Medical Education (BelMAPO) Department of General Practice in Minsk Belarus; Richard B. Saltman Emory University Atlanta USA; Anthony Scott University of Aberdeen; Rod Sheaff Manchester University; Igor Svab University of Ljubljana Slovenia; Bonnie Sibbald University of Manchester; Hrvoje Tiljak Andrija Štampar School of Public Health Zagreb Croatia; Michel Wensing Centre for Quality of Care Research of the Universities of Nijmegen and Maastricht in Nijmegen Netherlands.