Still too much variation in health care quality across Italian regions, says new OECD report

Italy has significantly improved the quality of health care in recent decades but needs to tackle the wide disparities that remain between regions, according to a new OECD report.

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Health Inequalities

Despite remarkable progress in health status and life expectancy in OECD countries over the past decades, there remain large inequalities not only across countries, but also across population groups within each country. These inequalities in health status are linked to many factors, including differences in exposure to risk factors to health and in access to health care.

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Paying providers for health care

How health providers are paid is one of the key policy levers that countries have to drive health system performance. The 2012 HSC Survey analyses the payment modes currently in use in OECD countries to remunerate primary care, outpatient specialist care and inpatient care, the price regulations for health services and identifies new innovative modes of payments in more detail.

Health at a Glance: Europe 2014 - Briefing Note for Norway

Excellent population health status and good outcomes associated with acute care reflect a high-performing health system in Norway. Norway’s good health system comes at a cost – Norway’s per capita health expenditure is the highest in Europe.

Health at a Glance: Europe 2014

This third edition of Health at a Glance: Europe presents a set of key indicators related to health status, determinants of health, health care resources and activities, quality of care, access to care, and health expenditure and financing in 35 European countries, including the 28 European Union member states, four candidate countries and three EFTA countries. The selection of indicators is based largely on the European Core

Health at a Glance: Europe 2014 - Briefing Note for Ireland

Despite cuts in recent years, health spending as a share of GDP in Ireland remains slightly higher than the EU average and pharmaceutical spending in particular remains relatively high.

Health at a Glance: Europe 2014 - Briefing Note for France (in French)

Le poids des dépenses hospitalières dans les dépenses de santé s’avère très élevé en France malgré des efforts pour développer des modes de prise en charge moins coûteux.

Health at a Glance: Europe 2014 - Briefing Note for Italy (in English)

Italy's indicators of health status and quality of care remain among the best in the EU. Italy spent 9.2% of its GDP on health in 2012, slightly more than the EU average of 8.7%.

Health at a Glance: Europe 2014 - Briefing Note for the United Kingdom

The number of doctors in the UK has grown more rapidly than in any other EU countries since 2000; the number per capita remains lower than the EU average. There has been a sharp drop in deaths from heart attacks in the UK since 2000, reflecting reductions in important risk factors like smoking and better treatments.

Health at a Glance: Europe 2014 - Briefing Note for Poland (in English)

Poland has narrowed the gap in life expectancy with other EU countries over the past two decades, thanks mainly to reductions in mortality in cardiovascular diseases; still further progress in life expectancy could be achieved by further reductions in risk factors and mortality from cardiovascular diseases and cancer.