OECD Health Policy Studies Geographic Variations in Health Care

OECD Health Policy Studies: Cancer Care

$56 More than five million new cases of cancer are diagnosed every year in OECD countries. Mortality rates are declining, but not as fast as for other big killers such as heart disease, and cancer survival rates show almost a four-fold difference across countries. In short, many countries are not doing as well as they could in the fight against cancer. Cancer Care: Assuring Quality to Improve Survival surveys the policy trends in cancer care over recent  years and looks at survival rates to identify the why some countries are doing better than others. It sets out what governments should do to reduce the burden of cancer in their countries. As well as an adequate level of resourcing, a comprehensive national cancer control plan appears critical, emphasising initiatives such as early detection and fast-track treatment pathways. Countries also need better data, particularly for patients’ experiences of care, in order to provide high quality, continuously improving cancer care.

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OECD Health Policy Studies: Making Mental Health Count

$105 Despite the enormous burden that mental ill-health imposes on individuals, their families, society, health systems and the economy, mental health care remains a neglected area of health policy in too many countries. Mental disorders represent a considerable disease burden, and have a significant impact on the lives of the OECD population, and account for considerable direct and indirect costs. This report argues that even in those OECD countries with a long history of deinstitutionalisation, there is still a long way to go to make community-based mental health care that achieves good outcomes for people with severe mental illness a reality. The disproportionate focus on severe mental illness has meant that mild-to-moderate mental illnesses, which makes up the largest burden of disease, have remained overwhelmingly neglected. This book addresses the high cost of mental illness, weaknesses and innovative developments in the organisation of care, changes and future directions for the mental health workforce, the need to develop better indicators for mental health care and quality, and tools for better governance of the mental health system. The high burden of mental ill health and the accompanying costs in terms of reduced quality of life, loss of productivity, and premature mortality, mean that making mental health count for all OECD countries is a priority.

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OECD Health Policy Studies: A Good Life in Old Age?

$84 As ageing societies are pushing a growing number of frail old people into needing care, delivering quality long-term care services - care that is safe, effective, and responsive to needs - has become a priority for governments. Yet much still remains to be done to enhance evidence-based measurement and improvement of quality of long-term care services across EU and OECD countries. This book offers evidence and examples of useful experiences to help policy makers, providers and experts measure and improve the quality of long-term care services.

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OECD Health Policy Studies: Strengthening Health Information Infrastructure for Health Care Quality Governance

$70 Health data constitutes a significant resource in most OECD countries that could be used to improve population health, the quality of health care and the performance of health systems. Rising levels of chronic diseases; concerns about the quality and safety of patient care; the need to assure value for investments in health care; and the need to allocate health resources wisely; are all too important to be left without good evidence for decision making.  . This book, based on studies of 19 countries on the development and use of personal health data and of 25 countries on development and use of electronic health record systems, includes results showing good practices, new opportunities and data privacy protection challenges. It finds that well-intended policies to allay concerns about breaches of confidentiality and potential misuse of personal health data may be limiting data use, but that the next five years appear promising, in terms of both the number of countries that plan to implement national electronic health record systems and the number that consider it likely that data from these systems will be used for some aspects of health care quality monitoring. They also appear promising for the further use of existing personal health databases and for the linkage of multiple data sources to generate new evidence.  

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OECD Health Policy Studies: Improving Health Sector Efficiency

$42 Despite the promise they hold out, implementing information and communication technologies (ICTs) in clinical care has proven to be a very difficult undertaking. More than a decade of efforts provide a picture of significant public investments, resulting in both notable successes and some highly publicised costly delays and failures. This has been accompanied by a failure to achieve widespread understanding among the general public and the medical profession of the benefits of electronic record keeping and information exchange.  . With consistent cross-country information on these issues largely absent, the OECD has used lessons learned from case studies in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United States to identify the opportunities offered by ICTs and to analyse under what conditions these technologies are most likely to result in efficiency and quality-of-care improvements. The findings highlight a number of practices or approaches that could usefully be employed in efforts to improve and accelerate the adoption and use of these technologies.

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OECD Health Policy Studies Health Data Governance

$46 All countries are investing in health data. There are however significant cross-country differences in data availability and use. Some countries stand out for their innovative practices enabling privacy-protective data use while others are falling behind with insufficient data and restrictions that limit access to and use of data, even by government itself. Countries that develop a data governance framework that enables privacy-protective data use will not only have the information needed to promote quality, efficiency and performance in their health systems, they will become a more attractive centre for medical research. After examining the current situation in OECD countries, a multi-disciplinary advisory panel of experts identified eight key data governance mechanisms to maximise benefits to patients and to societies from the collection, linkage and analysis of health data and to, at the same time, minimise risks to the privacy of patients and to the security of health data. These mechanisms include coordinated development of high-value, privacy-protective health information systems, legislation that permits privacy-protective data use, open and transparent public communication, accreditation or certification of health data processors, transparent and fair project approval processes, data de-identification and data security practices that meet legal requirements and public expectations without compromising data utility and a process to continually assess and renew the data governance framework as new data and new risks emerge.

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OECD Tax Policy Studies The Distributional Effects of Consumption Taxes in OECD Countries

$42 This report examines the distributional effects of value-added tax (VAT) and excise tax systems in 20 OECD countries, and investigates the effectiveness of reduced VAT rates as a redistributional tool.

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OECD Trade Policy Studies The Economic Impact of Export Restrictions on Raw Materials

$54 Export restrictions on raw materials are applied to achieve a number of policy objectives. However, they can have a significant and negative impact on the efficient allocation of resources, international trade, and the competitiveness and development of industries in both exporting and importing countries.  . By diverting exports to domestic markets, export restrictions raise prices for foreign consumers and importers. At the same time, by reducing domestic prices in the applying countries and increasing global uncertainty concerning future prices, export restrictions negatively affect investment, thus potentially reducing the overall supply of raw materials in the long term. In view of existing alternative policy tools that have a different impact on trade, the effectiveness of export restrictions to achieve stated policy objectives should be carefully reviewed.  . This publication presents a selection of papers discussed at the OECD Workshop on Raw Materials, held in Paris in October 2009. This workshop was organised in response to the growing concern on the use of export restrictions on raw materials, particularly by emerging economies.

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OECD Tax Policy Studies: Taxation and Employment

$63 This publication examines the effects of taxation on employment, highlights the resulting policy challenges, and discusses the ways governments endeavour to address these challenges.  Chapter 1 provides a broad overview of the effects of taxation on employment, examining how taxes on labour income can affect both the size of the labour force and the level of unemployment, and highlighting key areas of concern for tax policy makers.  This analysis is then augmented in chapters 2-4 by the more detailed analysis of the effects of taxation on the employment of three groups where empirical research suggests that responses of labour supply to taxation may be relatively large: low-income workers, mobile highly-skilled workers, and older workers.  As well as highlighting key areas of concern for tax policy makers, the report places a particular focus on the different measures that have been adopted by countries to attempt to overcome these problems, discussing, where possible, the main design features, and the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches that have been adopted.

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OECD Tax Policy Studies: Taxation and Skills

$42 This Tax Policy Study on Taxation and Skills examines how tax policy can encourage skills development in OECD countries. This study also assesses the returns to tertiary and adult education and examines how these returns are shared between governments and students. The study builds indicators that examine incentives for individuals and governments to invest in education. These indicators take into account the various financial costs of skills investments for individuals such as foregone after-tax earnings and tuition fees, as well as whether investments are financed with savings or with student loans. Costs borne by governments such as grants, scholarships, lost taxes, and skills tax expenditures are also accounted for. The indicators also incorporate the returns to skills investments for individuals and governments through higher after-tax wages and higher tax revenues respectively.

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Health Policy for Health Care Professionals

$38 `This excellent, concise and even-handed book confronts the contradictions and dilemmas at the heart of today's NHS' - Healthmatters This is a contemporary guide to the health service, its origins and current agenda, which focuses on the challenges faced by health service workers in implementing government policy at local level. The book's aim is to help health care professionals make assessments of health policy by giving them an understanding of the ideological basis of the british health care system and the challenges facing the modern National Health Service.

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Health Policy and Economics: Strategic Issues in Health Care Management

$40 This title was first published in 2001: The papers in this volume, selected from nearly 100 submissions to the Fourth International Conference on Strategic Issues in Health Care Management, reflect the work taking place in health economics. The first five chapters in the collection examine the role of economics within clinical guidelines and suggest methods of improving the quality of economic evaluation which is now at the centre of decision-making in the NHS. The second section of the book is comprised of two papers on inequalities and access. The third part contains four papers, two of which cover reviews and tackle some theoretical issues regarding demand, and two are applied case studies. The fourth section assesses performance, and the final four papers review health reforms in a number of countries including the UK, Canada, France and Turkey.

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Case Studies in Canadian Health Policy and Management, Second Edition

$51 This second edition features all new cases, as well as adding an introductory chapter that provides a framework and tools for health policy analysis in Canada.

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Case Studies in Global Health Policy Nursing

$79.99 Dorman and De Chesnayoffer a wealth of valuable information students and other healthcare providers would normally not receive until they were in the trenches of their global experience[They] delivernuances of ideology about care and disease from a number of different countries, what global health policy entails and means to healthcare providers traveling the world, along with case studies from a number of guides/experienced global experts. -Lorna Kendrick , PhD, APRN, PMHCNS-BC Professor and Director, School of Nursing, California State University San Marcos From the Foreword Case Studies in Global Health Policy Nursing unpacks key global health issues and analyzes the surrounding health care policies and their impact through case studies. Designed specifically for graduate nursing students, this text explores the implications of global initiatives designed to eradicate disease and promote physical and mental health. As globalization takes a front row seat in the digital age and political dynamics shift more rapidly than ever, possibilities and opportunities for health care have arisen beyond the hospital-based focus, especially for diseases and trends that cross continental divides. Every case study contains a multidisciplinary perspective, featuring contributions by expert nurses, public health professionals, and policy researchers. Presented in a consistent format for ease of use, each case study includes an overview, background, relevant research, and in-depth information on its significance as a critical global issue. This text covers critical, current topics such as health care for transgender individuals, refugees, and patients on the autism spectrum, as well as ongoing problems like access to clean water, HIV/AIDS, and human trafficking. End-of-chapter exercises reinforce content and supplementary instructor materials are available. Key Features: Delivers topical, in-depth examination of key global issues for graduate-level nursing students Provides consistent format for each case study for ease of use Presents an interdisciplinary approach with content from expert nurses, public health professionals, and policy researchers

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Geographic Variation in Behavior

$279.99 Studies of animal behavior often assume that all members of a species exhibit the same behavior. Geographic Variation in Behavior shows that, on the contrary, there is substantional variation within species across a wide range of taxa. Including work from pioneers in the field, this volume provides a balanced overview of research on behavioral characteristics that vary geographically. The authors explore the mechanisms by which behavioral differences evolve and examine related methodological issues. Taken together, the work collected here demonstrates that genetically based geographic variation may be far more widespread than previously suspected. The book also shows how variation in behavior can illuminate both behavioral evolution and general evolutionary patterns. Unique among books on behavior in its emphasis on geographic variation, this volume is a valuable new resource for students and researchers in animal behavior and evolutionary biology.

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geographic variation speciation and clines

$13.75 Good. 246 p. Includes: illustrations, diagrams, index. Covers slightly soiled with corners mildly bumped. Spot on spine. Smudges and foxing to text edges. Ffep foxed. Book otherwise clean and unmarked with tight binding.

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Health Policy and High-Tech Industrial Development: Learning from Innovation in the Health Industry

$40 Many countries and regions are actively promoting high technology industries as a means of stimulating the economy. The authors point out that these efforts are not only encouraging economic development, but they also reduce an economy's vulnerability to the negative consequences of world trade.

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OECD Rural Policy Reviews - Finland

$56 Finland is one of the most rural countries within the OECD, and it is also one of the early adopters of a multi-sectoral approach to rural policy. The Finnish model of rural policy has been reasonably successful in achieving coherence among sectoral policies oriented to rural areas (the so-called broad rural policy ) and in tailoring specific programmes to promote rural development (the so-called narrow rural policy ). This reviews examines developments in Finnish rural policy since the last review in 1995, examining in particular public service delivery and competitiveness and business environment policies.

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OECD Rural Policy Reviews - Netherlands

$56 Faced with high population density, close proximity of urban areas and urban-rural linkages, rural areas in the Netherlands have witnessed a gradual disappearance of characteristically rural landscapes and a deterioration of biodiversity. Future developments will increase pressures on rural land use, making a policy framework to address these challenges only more pertinent. This comprehensive review of rural policy in the Netherlands examines the character of rural areas in the Netherlands and how they have evolved.  It then examines rural policies and their decentralisation, rural land use planning, and landscape and nature policies. The final chapters discusses how to  strengthen rural policies in the Netherlands.  The book includes a series of recommendations.

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OECD Rural Policy Reviews Mexico

$56 The challenges faced by Mexico’s rural areas are significant. Mexico's countryside is home to a large population (more than the overall population of many OECD countries) that is highly dispersed and largely living in poverty. The potential of these areas is however significant, as their vast (and young) human resources, their natural, cultural and physical assets could provide, in a more diversified economy, a greater contribution to national development. This review shows that the challenges and potential of rural areas are spatially differentiated and therefore require a place-based policy approach. The Mexican government has had significant success in framing a multi-sector rural policy. Some of these accomplishments can provide examples of best practice for other OECD countries. The continuity and institutionalization of these advances are a priority. In addition, efforts should be devoted to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of rural development programmes and to guaranteeing coherence with other major sectoral policies. This will contribute to addressing the country's major territorial and individual inequalities and will transform rural regions into sources of national development.  

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OECD Rural Policy Reviews Germany

$56 This review discusses the challenges and opportunities of German rural areas. Significant differences between East and West persist and many of these have clear rural dimensions. Factors such as CAP reforms, ageing of the German population and migration trends will also have important rural implications. Many of these issues involve more than rural policy, but rural policy has a place in resolving all of the key issues. However, for rural policy to be an effective part of the policy process it will have to evolve beyond the existing limits in Germany. This review states that Germany's current approach to rural development and rural policy is mainly sectoral and thus does not fully capture the diversity of rural regions. Neither does it foster the development of programmes that are adapted to each place. Based on the experience of other OECD countries, a number of priorities for reform can be identified. The implementation of these reforms will require as a pre-condition the acknowledgement that, although appropriate at a certain moment in time, the present approach to rural policy needs profound modifications. These modifications require building a broad consensus in order to overcome resistance that has long impeded change in rural policy in both Germany as well as in several other OECD countries. This consensus should be built progressively and through the diffusion of well-researched, objective information to both policy makers and broad sectors of civil society on the status and challenges of rural Germany. Ultimately, the development of rural Germany is a matter of national concern, relevant for the future of both rural and urban citizens. This report will be of interest to policy makers, researchers, NGOs and others active in rural development. French and German translations of the Assessment and Recommendations have been included in this volume. Also available:. The New Rural Paradigm: Policies and Governance (2006). OECD Rural Policy Reviews: Mexico (2007). Forthcoming:. OECD Rural Policy Reviews: Finland (2008). OECD Rural Policy Reviews: Scotland , UK (2008). OECD Rural Policy Reviews: Spain (2008). OECD Rural Policy Reviews: The Netherlands (2008)

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OECD Investment Policy Reviews Egypt

$42 Having adhered to the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises in July 2007 , Egypt undertook a thorough review by OECD members of its international investment policies using the Policy Framework for Investment . This publication presents the results of this review. It finds that international investors responded quickly to the government’s policy reform efforts: foreign direct investment (FDI) into Egypt increased eightfold in just three years, diversifying away from the petroleum sector and bringing much-needed investment to a broad range of manufacturing and service industries. However, the review also shows that investment climate reforms take time and many challenges still lie ahead. These include ongoing efforts to phase out unnecessary sectoral restrictions on investment, maintaining the momentum for broadening the privatisation programme and encouraging entrepreneurship by promoting transparency, accountability and competition.

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OECD Investment Policy Reviews Russian Federation

$42 In 2007, Russia’s international investment flows reached record highs, making Russia one of the world’s largest recipients and sources of FDI. Russia's potential for attracting even more international investment can be improved by strengthening beneficial competition and offering additional opportunities for investment.  Disseminating international standard business practices among Russian firms can also boost the country's creditworthiness and reliability as inward and outward investors. Based on the OECD's Policy Framework for Investment , the overview of Russia's energy investment policy identifies different policies critical for coping with the country's huge energy investment needs and sector-specific challenges.

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OECD Rural Policy Reviews Scotland, UK

$56 Rural Scotland represents an important resource for national development and growth, but large unexploited potential remains. Many of Scotland’s strengths are rural in nature, including an abundant land area, rich natural and cultural resources, higher standards of living, and a stable and relatively diversified economy with good employment and entrepreneurship indicators. This comprehensive review of rural policy in Scotland recommends a more integrated approach to rural policy which addresses land and housing related isues, economic diversification in key emerging sectors, service delivery improvements and actions to exploit rural-urban linkages.

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