Monday, October 4, 2010

[EQ] Similar and Yet So Different: Cash-for-Care in Six European Countries' Long-Term Care Policies

Similar and Yet So Different:
Cash-for-Care in Six European Countries’ Long-Term Care Policies


Barbara Da Roit and Blanche Le Bihan
Utrecht University; École de Hautes Études en Santé Publique
The Milbank Quarterly - Volume 88, Number 3, 2010

Available online at: http://bit.ly/d7aXU8

Context:
In response to increasing care needs, the reform or development of long-term care (LTC) systems has become a prominent policy issue in all European countries. Cash-for-care schemes—allowances instead of services provided to dependents—represent a key policy aimed at ensuring choice, fostering family care, developing care markets, and containing costs.

Methods:
A detailed analysis of policy documents and regulations, together with a systematic review of existing studies, was used to investigate the differences among six European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden). The rationale and evolution of their various cash-for-care schemes within the framework of their long-term care LTC systems also were explored.

Findings:
While most of the literature present cash-for-care schemes as a common trend in the reforms that began in the 1990s and often treat them separately from the overarching long-term care LTC policies, this article argues that the policy context, timing, and specific regulation of the new schemes have created different visions of care and care work that in turn have given rise to distinct long-term care LTC configurations.

Conclusions:
A new typology of long-term care configurations is proposed based on the inclusiveness of the system, the role of cash-for-care schemes and their specific regulations, as well as the views of informal care and the care work that they require.


 

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[EQ] Reforming health care: why we need to learn from international experience

Reforming health care: why we need to learn from international experience


Jennifer Dixon and Vidhya Alakeson
Nuffield Trust,  September 2010

Available online at: http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/publications/detail.aspx?id=145&PRid=735

“…This paper provides an overview of system reform, using international examples, and highlights both how the health systems of countries at varying levels of economic development can benefit from adopting international good practice and the value of a truly global exchange on health system reform. It serves as a discussion document for an international summit analysing promising health reforms, hosted in partnership with Salzburg Global Seminar and the British Medical Journal, to be held in Salzburg, Austria on 7 to 12 November 2010.…”

Removing the policy barriers to integrated care in England

Chris Ham and Judith Smith
Publisher: Nuffield Trust -  01/09/2010

“….This briefing paper uses five case studies of health economies in the English NHS as a basis for examining how local clinicians and managers are working together to develop closer service integration and less fragmented care for patients. It focuses on what is facilitating or impeding change and sets out proposals for policy-makers that are designed to enable more rapid progress towards developing better coordinated services.

It is intended as a contribution to discussions about the direction health reform should take under the new Coalition Government following the publication of the White Paper Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS (Department of Health, 2010)….”

 

The Coalition Government's NHS reforms: an assessment of the White Paper

Nuffield Trust - Published: 10/08/2010

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
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[EQ] Pathways to Urban Sustainability: Research and Development on Urban Systems

Pathways to Urban Sustainability: Research and Development on Urban Systems


Daniel Schaffer and Derek Vollmer, Rapporteurs; US Committee on the Challenge of Developing Sustainable

Urban Systems; National Research Council – 2010 - ISBN: 978-0-309-15895-4

Available online at: http://bit.ly/aXPKL4

 

“……More than half of the world's people now live in cities. In the United States, the figure is 80 percent. It is worthwhile to consider how this trend of increased urbanization, if inevitable, could be made more sustainable. One fundamental shortcoming of urban research and programs is that they sometimes fail to recognize urban areas as systems.

 

Current institutions and actors are not accustomed to exploring human-environment interactions, particularly at an urban-scale. The fact is that these issues involve complex interactions, many of which are not yet fully understood. Thus a key challenge for the 21st century is this:
How can we develop sustainable urban systems that provide healthy, safe and affordable environments for the growing number of Americans living in cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas?

 

To address this question, the National Research Council organized a workshop exploring the landscape of urban sustainability research programs in the United States. The workshop, summarized in this volume, was designed to allow participants to share information about the activities and planning efforts of federal agencies, along with related initiatives by universities, the private sector, nongovernmental groups, state and local agencies, and international organizations.

Participants were encouraged to explore how urban sustainability can move beyond analyses devoted to single disciplines and sectors to systems-level thinking and effective interagency cooperation.

 

To do this, participants examined areas of potential coordination among different R&D programs, with special consideration given to how the efforts of federal agencies can best complement and leverage the efforts of other key stakeholders. Pathways to Urban Sustainability offers a broad contextual summary of workshop presentations and discussions for distribution to federal agencies, regional organizations, academic institutions, think tanks and other groups engaged in urban research……”

 


 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
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