May 17, 2011
The challenge that faces health services around the world is to improve the health of their population at a cost that their economy can afford. It is well understood that impacting upon the health of a population requires a combination of individuals and communities taking more care of their own health, public health interventions such as vaccination programmes, effective primary care to manage small illnesses and diagnose major illness early, community services supporting the sick and the elderly outside of hospitals and hospitals to treat acute, long term and psychiatric illness that is too severe to be cared for outside of a hospital setting.
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December 23, 2010
The traditional hospital strategy of increasing activity to grow revenue is defunct in this challenging economic environment. Much like the accountable care organizations (ACOs) that are being developed in the U.S., the UK will be shifting to a model of results-based payments for health providers, rewarding the quality of care provided as opposed to simply the quantity of patients treated. This change is outlined in the Liberating the NHS White Paper, which marks the start of a series of radical changes for healthcare in the UK which could add up to the greatest change in 60 years.
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