An interesting resource from The Commonwealth Fund – a Website that presents profiles of the health care systems in 18 countries. Across the globe, health care policymakers face mounting pressure to lower costs while improving the quality and safety of care. The U.S. can learn a lot by examining other health systems, their performance in relation to ours, and their health care delivery and payment innovations.
This site presents overviews of the health care systems of Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Each overview covers health insurance, public and private financing, health system organization and governance, health care quality and coordination, disparities, efficiency and integration, use of information technology and evidence-based practice, cost containment, and recent reforms and innovations. In addition, the site provides summary data on a number of key health system characteristics and performance indicators, including overall health care spending, hospital spending and utilization, health care access, patient safety, care coordination, chronic care management, disease prevention, capacity for quality improvement, and public views. The site also features results from the latest Commonwealth Fund International Survey of Primary Care Physicians.
Read more: International Health Care System Profiles: http://international.commonwealthfund.org/