[afro-nets] Health Affairs Article: Health Systems in Six Countries

[Kathleen Ford <kford@projecthope.org>]

Health Affairs Article: Health Systems in Six Countries
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Reports of Medical Errors in Six Countries

Patients around the world report deficiencies in health care,
ranging from medication errors to failure to conduct routine
screening examinations on chronically ill patients, according to
a new article published today on the Health Affairs Web site.

"Taking The Pulse Of Health Care Systems: Experiences Of Pa-
tients With Health Problems In Six Countries"

by Cathy Schoen, Robin Osborn, Phuong Trang Huynh, Michelle
Doty, Kinga Zapert, Jordon Peugh, and Karen Davis

You can download the article as Adobe PDF file (17 pp. 157 kB) at:
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/hlthaff.w5.509v1.pdf

Health Affairs is pleased to make this article freely accessible
to listserv members for two weeks.

Cathy Schoen, senior vice president, Research and Evaluation,
with the Commonwealth Fund, and co-authors surveyed patients'
experiences in five English-speaking countries and Germany. They
found that failures of transitional care after hospitalization
are a shared concern across all six countries, including medica-
tion and medical errors; hospital infections; and failure to
provide recommended care for chronically ill patients. While pa-
tients report that some nations perform better than others on
access and coverage measures, all six countries share the same
challenges on quality and safety issues.

Schoen's co-authors from the Commonwealth Fund are Robin Osborn,
vice president; Phuong Trang Huynh, associate director, Interna-
tional Health Policy and Practice; and Karen Davis, president.
Coauthors from Harris Interactive were Kinga Zapert, vice presi-
dent, and Jordon Peugh, senior research manager.