Tuesday, October 9, 2007

[EQ] Mapping Health Services Access: National and Cross-Border Issues

Mapping Health Services Access: National and Cross-Border Issues

 

(HealthACCESS)

Final Report, November 2006
EU Commission - Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection

 

Reinhard Busse*, Markus Wörz*, Thomas Foubister**, Elias Mossialos** and Philip Berman***

*Dept. Health Care Management, Berlin University of Technology, Berlin/ Germany

**LSE Health and Social Care, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

***European Health Management Association (EHMA), Dublin/ Brussels

 

Available online as PDF file [53p.] at: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_projects/2003/action1/docs/2003_1_22_frep_en.pdf

 

“…..According to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, ‘Everyone has the right of access to preventive health care and
the right to benefit from medical treatment under the conditions established by national laws and practices’.
The Health ACCESS project has examined whether any of six hurdles:
- population covered for health insurance,
- benefits covered,
- cost-sharing arrangements,
- geographical barriers,

- organisational barriers and
- utilization of accessible services make it harder or even impossible to access health care within 10 EU countries, and whether cross-border arrangements between actors of different countries can effectively alleviate such problems. European integration has the potential to alleviate some but not all access barriers. However, it can also make access more problematic….”

 

Content

 

Summary and Policy Recommendations

Introduction

Access to health care within countries

The use of cross-border arrangements to enhance access

I. Access to health care within countries

Six hurdles to access health care services

Hurdle 1: The proportion of the population covered for health care

Hurdle 2: Benefits covered by health care systems

Hurdle 3: Cost-sharing arrangements

Hurdle 4: Geographical barriers to access

Hurdle 5: Organisational barriers to access

Hurdle 6: Utilization of accessible services

II. Cross-border arrangements and European patient mobility

Background

Cross border arrangements promoting access to health care

Types of arrangement and actors involved

Patient flows in cross-border arrangements

Access hurdles and other reasons for cross-border arrangements

Individual patient mobility

“European Centres of Reference”

III. Analysis of cross border arrangements and cross border movement

Types of cross-border arrangements

Localism/ local agency

Why are cross-border numbers so different? The relative importance of factors

Other features of cross-border arrangements

Conclusion
References

 

 

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