Greece: Health system review.

This report describes the development of the ESY at the structural level and generally, the process of implementing reforms. The strategic targets of health reform initiatives have been to structure a unified health care sector along the lines of the original ESY proposal and to cope with current inefficiencies. However, the three reforms attempted in the 1990s were never fully implemented, while the ambitious reform project of the period 2000–2004, which provided for the regionalization of the system, new management structures, prospective reimbursement, new employment conditions for hospital doctors, modernization of public health services and reorganization of primary health care, was abolished after the elections of 2004 and a change in government. While the new strategy, launched in 2005 with the stated aims of securing the financial viability of the health care system in the short term and its sustainability in the long term, addressed specific weaknesses, it has been rather controversial: the introduction of a centralized administrative public procurement system, the development of public–private partnerships (PPPs) for the construction of public hospitals and the reform of pharmaceutical care have been accompanied by the abolition of professional hospital management and its replacement by political administration. The dominance of clientelism and party thinking instead of consensus-building has resulted in a health policy that lacks continuity and the ability to b...
Source: Health systems in transition - Category: Health Management Tags: Health Syst Transit Source Type: news