The Reform of the Health Care System in Portugal

Stephanie Guichard

No 405, OECD Economics Department Working Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: An ambitious reform to increase efficiency of the Portuguese health care system was launched in 2002. In contrast to previous attempts of gradual reforms, which were never fully implemented, the strategy has been to create a big bang in the health sector, making changes essentially irreversible. The reform has two main aims: to deliver better-quality public health services than at present but at no higher cost; and to reduce the underlying growth rate of public health-care spending over the medium term. New legislation approved includes the separation of the functions of regulation, financing and provision of health care services; setting up new models of financing for providers, which impose harder budget constraints; the introduction of incentives towards productivity, management and quality improvements; the possibility for the private sector to play a larger role in service provision; and the promotion of generic drugs. After assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the ...

La réforme du système de santé au Portugal Une réforme ambitieuse a été engagée en 2002 au Portugal pour accroître l’efficience du système de santé. Contrairement aux tentatives précédentes de réformes graduelles, qui n’ont jamais été totalement mises en œuvre, la stratégie consiste à susciter un big-bang dans le secteur de la santé, rendant les efforts de réforme pour l’essentiel irréversibles. Cette réforme a deux objectifs principaux : améliorer la qualité des services de santé publique sans augmenter les coûts et réduire le taux de croissance sous-jacent des dépenses de santé publique à moyen terme. Les nouvelles législations incluent: la séparation des fonctions de réglementation, de financement et de prestation de services de santé publique ; la mise en place de nouvelles modalités de financement pour les prestataires, qui imposent des contraintes budgétaires plus rigoureuses ; l’introduction d’incitations en faveur de la productivité, de la gestion et de l’amélioration de la qualité; la possibilité pour le secteur ...

Keywords: health; Portugal; Portugal; santé (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I11 I12 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-10-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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