[EQ] Capacity planning in health care

Policy Brief

Capacity planning in health care - A review of the international experience

Reinhard Busse, Technische Universität Berlin;
Carl-Ardy Dubois, University of Montreal;
Isabelle Durand-Zaleski, Hôpital Henri Mondor, Paris;
Niek Klazinga, University of Amsterdam;
Allan Krasnik, University of Copenhagen;
Walter Ricciardi, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome;
Juha Teperi, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES), Helsinki

World Health Organization 2008, on behalf of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies

Available online as PDF [67p.] at: http://www.euro.who.int/Document/E91193.pdf

“……Health systems in most high-income countries aim to provide a comprehensive range of services to the entire population and to ensure that standards of quality, equity and responsiveness are maintained. Although approaches vary widely, responsibility for developing the overall framework for financing and organizing health care usually lies with the central government, while governance of the health system is often shared by central and regional authorities.

 

In this policy brief, we review approaches to capacity planning, a crucial component of health care governance. By concentrating on a selection of countries as diverse as Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and New Zealand, we aim to show a range of approaches to health care financing and organization, since both of these factors have an impact on approaches to capacity planning.

 

In most countries, health care capacity planning takes place at national, regional or local level, reflecting the various tiers of government within health systems, but the distinction between these levels is not always clear cut. For example, regional and local authorities may oversee entities that differ greatly in terms of population size, legal and political mandates and organizational structures. In most of the countries we reviewed, health care capacity planning has been devolved to regional level (often reflecting devolution of overall responsibility for the organization of health care), with Denmark and Finland regarding local authorities as important actors….”

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