A key policy challenge in most OECD countries is to improve outcomes of the health care system while containing its costs. Benchmarking countries and identifying best practices to enhance public spending cost-effectiveness would, in this regard, be a useful exercise. This paper presents three...

In a period where decentralisation seemed to be the prominent trend, Norway in 2002 chose to re-centralise the hospital sector. The reform had three main aims; cost control, efficiency and reduced waiting times. This study investigates whether the hospital reform has improved hospital...

This study revisits the debate on the ‘red herring’, i.e. the claim that population aging will not have a significant impact on health care expenditure (HCE), using a Finnish data set. We decompose HCE into several components and include both survivors and deceased individuals into the...

The authors consider the association between productive efficiency and clinical quality in institutional long-term care for the elderly. Cross-sectional data were collected from 122 wards in health-centre hospitals and residential homes in Finland in 2001. Productive efficiency was measured in...

In this study stochastic frontier cost function was used to estimate the teaching and research costs of Finnish hospitals. Predicted efficiency adjusted costs were calculated and compared to evaluate the current level of teaching and research reimbursement. The efficiency adjustment had...

A key policy challenge in most OECD countries is to improve outcomes of the health care system while containing its costs. Benchmarking countries and identifying best practices to enhance public spending cost-effectiveness would, in this regard, be a useful exercise. This paper presents three...