The 2nd HPD report - Health Policy Monitor

the extent to which private financing should contribute to the
financing of long-term care.
Pharmaceutical expenditures are rising steeply in many countries.
The difficult tradeoff between health policy objectives and
competitive market objectives makes any regulation of pharmaceutical
markets a complex issue. Policymakers in European
Union countries must also consider supranational regulation.
Those who seek to regulate the pharmaceutical industry must
take into account an array of contradictory factors. The stimulation
of production, research and development can lead to positive
effects on employment and trade balance-important economic
goals. On the other hand, the road to affordable health care may
call for restricting certain behaviors of the industry.
Standard measures during the past years mainly comprise
cost-containment policies concerning pricing, reimbursement or
increased private responsibilities. Some reforms establish effectiveness
criteria and/or cost-effectiveness assessment as the basis
for drug pricing, as reported from Austria, Finland and France.
Others feature the introduction or promotion of generic drugs, as
in Finland and Spain. Information strategies addressing providers
or patients constitute another pattern of reform options, as in
Finland and New Zealand. Recent policy discussions have devoted
greater attention to quality aspects. Thus, England created the
National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), and Finland
established a Development Center for Drug Therapy.
During the past decades, while financing issues and structural
health policy reform drew much attention, the health care workforce
stood comparatively low on the reform agenda even though
the knowledge and skills of health care professionals hold the key
to delivering high-quality services in a rapidly changing health
care environment. Health challenges of aging societies, quality
management, integrated care and evidence-based medicine—to
name just a few of the relevant issues—all require specialized
training. When it comes to meeting the needs of tomorrow’s
health care systems, the constant adaptation of medical and
nonmedical professional training, both primary and advanced,
ranks among the most important health policy tasks. Governments
and decision-makers have only recently begun to address
these challenges.
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Pharmaceutical
policy
Human resources
and health