Netherlands ranked as top healthcare system
pharmafile | October 2, 2009 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â Netherlands, hcÂ
The Netherlands has come out top for the second year in a row in a pan-European survey of healthcare systems.
The research looked at 33 European healthcare systems that were ranked against six categories and the country won with an outstanding margin.
Denmark keeps its runner-up position from last year, while a small group of strong performers were also singled out for praise – Iceland, Austria and Switzerland.
France was ranked seventh, Germany eighth, and the UK came 14th and Italy 15th.
The EHCI survey was developed with the European Commission DG Information Society and Media and works under the auspices of the Swedish EU presidency.
General improvement trends were seen among most of the measured healthcare systems, with examples of reform making an impact in the Netherlands, Ireland and the Czech Republic.
There was, however, continued decline in Spain Portugual and Greece, which have not be judged as keeping up with the improvement rates found in the Netherlands, Denmark or Ireland. The survey also concluded that large parts of Eastern and Central Europe seem to be affected by the financial crisis.
The HCP research director, Dr. Arne Bjornberg, commented on the EHCI 2009 outcomes: "As the Netherlands are expanding their lead among the best performing countries, the Index indicates that the Dutch might have found a successful approach.
"It combines competition for funding and provision within a regulated framework. There are information tools to support active choice among consumers. The Netherlands have started working on patient empowerment early, which now clearly pays off in many areas. "
Johan Hjertqvist, president of Health Consumer Powerhouse, commented: "With patient mobility growing around Europe, there is a strong need for transparency exposing the pros and cons of the national healthcare systems. The EU intends to introduce a crossborder care scheme which requires significantly better information to patients.
"This years ' measurement indicates that forward-looking governments start using healthcare information and choice to engage patients in the decision-making, building a pressure from below for improvement. "
The EHCI 2009 groups 38 indicators of quality into six categories: Patient rights and information, e-Health, Waiting time for treatment, Outcomes, Range and reach of services provided and Pharmaceuticals. Each sub-discipline is weighted for importance to provide the overall Index score.
Individual category leaders
Patient rights and information:
Denmark
e-Health: Denmark, Netherlands
Waiting time for treatment: Albania, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland
Outcomes: Sweden
Range and reach of services provided: Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden
Pharmaceuticals:
Denmark, Netherlands
For the full report, visit healthpowerhouse.com.
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