Chevreul, Karine, Brigham, Berg, Durand-Zaleski, Isabelle and Hernández-Quevedo, Cristina
(2015)
France: health system review.
Health Systems in Transition.
(17/3).
World Health Organization on behalf of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Abstract
The Health Systems in Transition (HiT) series consists of country-based reviews that provide a detailed description of a health system and of reform and policy initiatives in progress or under development in a specific country. Each review is produced by country experts in collaboration with the Observatory’s staff. In order to facilitate comparisons between countries, reviews are based on a template, which is revised periodically. The template provides detailed guidelines and specific questions, definitions and examples needed to compile a report. HiTs seek to provide relevant information to support policy-makers and analysts in the development of health systems in Europe. They are building blocks that can be used to: • learn in detail about different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services and the role of the main actors in health systems; • describe the institutional framework, process, content and implementation of health care reform programmes; • highlight challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis; • provide a tool for the dissemination of information on health systems and the exchange of experiences of reform strategies between policy-makers and analysts in different countries; and • assist other researchers in more in-depth comparative health policy analysis. Compiling the reviews poses a number of methodological problems. In many countries, there is relatively little information available on the health system and the impact of reforms. Due to the lack of a uniform data source, quantitative data on health services are based on a number of different sources, including the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe’s European Health for All database, data from national statistical offices, Eurostat, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Health Data, data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank’s World Development Indicators and any other relevant sources considered useful by the authors. Data collection methods and definitions sometimes vary, but typically are consistent within each separate review. A standardized review has certain disadvantages because the financing and delivery of health care differ across countries. However, it also offers advantages because it raises similar issues and questions. HiTs can be used to inform policy-makers about experiences in other countries that may be relevant to their own national situations. They can also be used to inform comparative analysis of health systems. This series is an ongoing initiative and material is updated at regular intervals. Comments and suggestions for the further development and improvement of the HiT series are most welcome and can be sent to info@obs.euro.who.int. HiTs and HiT summaries are available on the Observatory’s web site (http://www.healthobservatory.eu).
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