There is considerable agreement among national policy makers across Europe that, in principle, primary care should be the lynchpin of a well-designed health care system. This agreement in principle, however, does not carry over into the organizational mechanisms best suited to pursuing or achieving this common objective. Across Western, Central and Eastern Europe, primary care is delivered through a wide range of institutional, financial, professional and clinical configurations. This book is a study of the reforms of primary care in Europe as well as their impacts on the broader co-ordination mechanisms of European health care systems. It will be of interest to students studying health policy, health economics, public policy and management, as well as health mangers and policy makers.

Author Biography

Richard B. Saltman is Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University in Atlanta, USA and Research Director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Ana Rico is Assistant Professor of Health Politics at the Department of Health Economics and Management of the University of Oslo, Norway. Wienke Boerma is Senior Researcher at the Netherlands Institute of Health Services Research (NIVEL) in Utrecht, Netherlands.