IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v122y2018i5p457-472.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strategic Purchasing in Practice: Comparing Ten European Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Klasa, Katarzyna
  • Greer, Scott L.
  • van Ginneken, Ewout

Abstract

Strategic purchasing of health care services is widely recommended as a policy instrument. We conducted a review of literature of material drawn from the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies Health Systems in Transition series, other European Observatory databases, and selected country-specific literature to augment the comparative analysis by providing the most recent healthcare trends in ten selected countries. There is little evidence of purchasing being strategic according to any of the established definitions. There is little or no literature suggesting that existing purchasing mechanisms in Europe deliver improved population health, citizen empowerment, stronger governance and stewardship, or develop purchaser organization and capacity. Strategic purchasing has not generally been implemented. Policymakers considering adopting strategic purchasing policies should be aware of this systemic implementation problem. Policymakers in systems with strategic purchasing built into policy should not assume that a purchasing system is strategic or that it is delivering any expected objectives. However, there are individual components of strategic purchasing that are worth pursuing and can provide benefits to health systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Klasa, Katarzyna & Greer, Scott L. & van Ginneken, Ewout, 2018. "Strategic Purchasing in Practice: Comparing Ten European Countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(5), pages 457-472.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:122:y:2018:i:5:p:457-472
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2018.01.014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851018300290
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.healthpol.2018.01.014?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Habicht, Triin & Habicht, Jarno & van Ginneken, Ewout, 2015. "Strategic purchasing reform in Estonia: Reducing inequalities in access while improving care concentration and quality," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(8), pages 1011-1016.
    2. Benjamin Loevinsohn, 2008. "Performance-Based Contracting for Health Services in Developing Countries : A Toolkit," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6481.
    3. Alexander S. Preker & Xingzhu Liu & Edit V. Velenyi & Enis Baris, 2007. "Public Ends, Private Means : Strategic Purchasing of Health Services," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6683.
    4. Julian Le Grand, 2007. "Introduction to The Other Invisible Hand: Delivering Public Services through Choice and Competition," Introductory Chapters, in: The Other Invisible Hand: Delivering Public Services through Choice and Competition, Princeton University Press.
    5. Adolph, Christopher & Greer, Scott L. & Massard da Fonseca, Elize, 2012. "Allocation of authority in European health policy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(9), pages 1595-1603.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elisabeth Paul & N’koué Emmanuel Sambiéni & Jean-Pierre Wangbe & Fabienne Fecher & Marc Bourgeois, 2020. "Budgeting challenges on the path towards universal health coverage: the case of Benin," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Noort, Bart A.C. & Ahaus, Kees & van der Vaart, Taco & Chambers, Naomi & Sheaff, Rod, 2020. "How healthcare systems shape a purchaser’s strategies and actions when managing chronic care," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(6), pages 628-638.
    3. Gifford, Rachel & Molleman, Eric & van der Vaart, Taco, 2024. "It's a jungle out there: Understanding physician payment and its role in group dynamics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    4. Montás, Marie C. & Klasa, Katarzyna & van Ginneken, Ewout & Greer, Scott L., 2022. "Strategic purchasing and health systems resilience: Lessons from COVID-19 in selected European countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(9), pages 853-864.
    5. Dohmen, Peter J.G. & van Raaij, Erik M., 2019. "A new approach to preferred provider selection in health care," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 300-305.
    6. Elisabeth Paul & N'koué Emmanuel Sambiéni & Jean-Pierre Wangbe & Fabienne Fecher & Marc Bourgeois, 2020. "Budgeting challenges on the path towards universal health coverage: the case of Benin," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/312499, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    7. Thomas Reindersma & Isabelle Fabbricotti & Kees Ahaus & Sandra Sülz, 2022. "Integrated Payment, Fragmented Realities? A Discourse Analysis of Integrated Payment in the Netherlands," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-14, July.
    8. Smith, Peter C. & Sagan, Anna & Siciliani, Luigi & Figueras, Josep, 2023. "Building on value-based health care: Towards a health system perspective," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    9. Atour Taghipour & Moein Khazaei & Adel Azar & Ali Rajabzadeh Ghatari & Mostafa Hajiaghaei-Keshteli & Mohammad Ramezani, 2022. "Creating Shared Value and Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility through Outsourcing within Supply Chain Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-25, February.
    10. Mladovsky, Philipa, 2020. "Fragmentation by design: Universal health coverage policies as governmentality in Senegal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    11. Bart A C Noort & Taco van der Vaart & Kees Ahaus, 2021. "Orchestration versus bookkeeping: How stakeholder pressures drive a healthcare purchaser’s institutional logics," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(10), pages 1-24, October.
    12. Stolk-Vos, Aline C. & Attema, Arthur E. & Manzulli, Michele & van de Klundert, Joris J., 2022. "Do patients and other stakeholders value health service quality equally? A prospect theory based choice experiment in cataract care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    13. Ramos Bruna & Silva João & Vila-Chã António & Azevedo Henrique & Ramos João & Ferreira Ana Cristina, 2024. "Influence of Demand on Supplier Selection Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process: A Case Study Validation in the Textile Industry," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 15(1), pages 178-200.
    14. Elisabeth Paul & Garrett Wallace Brown & Valéry Ridde, 2020. "Misunderstandings and ambiguities in strategic purchasing in low‐ and middle‐income countries," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/309855, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    15. Akmal, Adeel & Gauld, Robin, 2021. "What components are important for effective healthcare alliance governance? Findings from a modified Delphi study in New Zealand," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 239-245.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ali Reza Kalantari & Mohammad Jafari Sirizi & Mohammad Hossein Mehrolhassani & Reza Dehnavieh, 2019. "Challenges of implementation: Strategic purchasing in Iran Health Insurance Organization," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 875-884, January.
    2. Norman Gemmell & Patrick Nolan & Grant Scobie, 2017. "Public sector productivity: Quality adjusting sector-level data on New Zealand schools," Working Papers 2017/02, New Zealand Productivity Commission.
    3. World Bank, 2008. "Nigeria—Improving Primary Health Care Delivery : Evidence from Four States," World Bank Publications - Reports 7784, The World Bank Group.
    4. Koen Verhoest & Paola Mattei, 2010. "Special Issue on ‘Welfare governance reforms and effects in the Post-Golden Age’," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 163-171, March.
    5. Murodillo Abdusamadovich Latifov & Sundeep Sahay, 2013. "Challenges in Moving to "Health Information for Action": An Infrastructural Perspective From a Case Study in Tajikistan," Information Technology for Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 215-229, July.
    6. Cooper, Zack & Gibbons, Stephen & Skellern, Matthew, 2018. "Does competition from private surgical centres improve public hospitals' performance? Evidence from the English National Health Service," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 63-80.
    7. Heller-Sahlgren, Gabriel, 2018. "Smart but unhappy: Independent-school competition and the wellbeing-efficiency trade-off in education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 66-81.
    8. Martin Chalkley & Andrew J. Mirelman & Luigi Siciliani & Marc Suhrcke & Peter Berman, 2020. "Paying for Performance for Health Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Economic Perspective," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Paul Revill & Marc Suhrcke & Rodrigo Moreno-Serra & Mark Sculpher (ed.), Global Health Economics Shaping Health Policy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, chapter 6, pages 157-190, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Besley, Timothy & Malcomson, James M., 2018. "Competition in public service provision: The role of not-for-profit providers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 158-172.
    10. Chen, D.L. & Levonyan, V. & Reinhart, S.E. & Taksler, G., 2014. "Do Payment Disclosure Laws Affect Industry-Physician Relationships?," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 14/24, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    11. Alessandro Petretto, 2013. "On the Fuzzy Boundaries between Public and Private in Health-Care Organization and Funding Systems," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, issue 1, pages 327-370, January-M.
    12. Brad R. Taylor, 2016. "Exit and the Epistemic Quality of Voice," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 133-144, June.
    13. Mennini, Francesco Saverio & Gitto, Lara & Russo, Simone & Cicchetti, Americo & Ruggeri, Matteo & Coretti, Silvia & Maurelli, Guido & Buscema, Paolo Massimo, 2017. "Does regional belonging explain the similarities in the expenditure determinants of Italian healthcare deliveries?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 47-56.
    14. Enrico Colombatto, 2011. "Is there a health-care problem in Western societies?," ICER Working Papers 14-2011, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    15. Claire Callender & Kevin J. Dougherty, 2018. "Student Choice in Higher Education—Reducing or Reproducing Social Inequalities?," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-28, October.
    16. Dale, Elina & Evans, David B. & Gopinathan, Unni & Kurowski, Christoph & Norheim, Ole F. & Ottersen, Trygve & Voorhoeve, Alex, 2023. "Open and inclusive: fair processes for financing universal health coverage," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119795, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Vladimir S. Osipov & Tatiana V. Skryl & Ekaterina A. Blinova & Michael E. Kosov, 2017. "Dysfunctions of Public Administration System: Analysis of Institutional Reforms," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 7(2), pages 123-129.
    18. John Clayton & Catherine Donovan & Jacqui Merchant, 2016. "Distancing and limited resourcefulness: Third sector service provision under austerity localism in the north east of England," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(4), pages 723-740, March.
    19. Sebastian Jilke & Steven Van de Walle, 2013. "Two track public services? Citizens' voice behaviour towards liberalized services in the EU15," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 465-476, May.
    20. Ranerup, Agneta & Norén, Lars, 2015. "How are citizens’ public service choices supported in quasi-markets?," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 527-537.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:122:y:2018:i:5:p:457-472. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.