How policy tools evolve in the healthcare sector. Five countries compared

The aim of this work is to investigate which policy tools are used in the governance of the healthcare sector. In particular, we compare the healthcare systems of five OECD countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, England and the Netherlands. The analysis intends to reconstruct the healthcare governance methods implemented in these countries, and understand how they have evolved over the last thirty years. Throughout this work, policy tools are subdivided into four categories: direct provision, regulation, financing and information. Direct provision remains the prevailing mode of governance in the English healthcare system. All of the five countries studied in this work make extensive use of regulation. Insurer regulation is particularly stringent in Germany, the Netherlands and Australia. Of the countries examined, those that make the greatest use of financial leverage seem to be Australia and Canada. England and the Netherlands are the two countries that focus most on informative policy tools.