Purpose – This editorial aims to outline the context of healthcare priority‐setting, and summarise each of the other ten papers in this special edition. It introduces a new multidisciplinary research programme drawing on ethics, philosophy, health economics, political science and health...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider some of the philosophical and bioethical issues raised by the creation of the draft social values framework developed to facilitate data collection and country‐specific presentations at the inaugural workshop on “Social values and health...

Purpose – It is commonly recognized that the setting of health priorities requires value judgements and that these judgements are social. Justifying social value judgements is an important element in any public justification of how priorities are set. The purpose of this paper is to review a...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the roles of social values in the reform of coverage decisions for Thailand's Universal Health Coverage (UC) plan in 2009 and 2010. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative techniques, including document review and personal communication,...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the role of social values in setting healthcare priorities in Korea. Design/methodology/approach – Using Clark and Weale's draft framework, Korean healthcare priority setting was analysed. The process values used were transparency,...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the organisational and procedural arrangements for healthcare reform in China, and describe the role of social values in the relevant decision‐making process. Design/methodology/approach – An analysis of recent developments...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the organisational and procedural arrangements for priority setting in England and Wales. It describes the role of social values in the decision‐making process. Design/methodology/approach – The processes and content of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of health priority setting structures in Germany. It reflects on how and which social values may influence decision making, and in particular investigates the role of the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG)...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the new US health organizations called accountable care organizations (ACOs) which are expected to improve the quality and reduce the cost of healthcare for Medicare enrolees. It assesses the importance of ACOs, defining and articulating the...