Pharmaceutical & healthcare

15 reform actions towards a common model for healthcare systems around the world

The U.S. model of providing healthcare is failing. Even with skyrocketing costs, the model still includes many inequalities and underperforms other models in some key areas. But no other developed country has a best-practice model, and developing countries have even further to go.

With just 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. accounts for 45% of total healthcare spend. This dominance sets the context for the entire global healthcare industry and its reforms.

Elements of all healthcare systems
The world’s five dominant types of healthcare systems have evolved more by chance than design – leaving amble opportunity for reform. These systems all comprise the same elements:

Governments – national, state/regional, community policy makers and enforcers
Providers – hospital staffs, clinic staffs, doctors, nurses, medical technicians, etc. (religious and not-for-profit-based, government-employed, for-profit)
Payers – insurance companies, agencies, companies, unions
Suppliers – pharmaceutical companies, medical devices & equipment, technology systems, etc.
Citizens – taxpayers, children, non-payers

Using these elements as a framework, A.T. Kearney analyzed 25 healthcare systems and examined the approaches currently being used to improve these systems, plus actions that are part of current reform programs. With the balance of power and passion shifting among the elements depending on the country and prevailing social norms, the degree of acceptance for reforms varies.

Reform for healthcare systems around the world

Most and least accepted reforms
Our study identified 15 approaches for reform, across the key elements, which ultimately lead to a common model for healthcare systems. These reforms focus on both cost-containment mechanisms and market-style mechanisms. Some of the reforms are less controversial and therefore more widely implemented. The most widely-accepted include, for example:

Providers organized by region, with local autonomy in delivery
Co-payments made by citizens
Regulation of some suppliers’ prices

The most contentious reform hinges on how governments define core services. As developing countries become wealthier, their governments can afford to extend core services. Developed countries, however, will need to reign in the scope of their services. Eventually, countries will implement some combination of these reforms, and healthcare systems around the world will converge on a common model.

Learn more
To learn more about the common model for healthcare and the global forces influencing these reforms, download “Healthcare Out of Balance – How global forces will reshape the health of nations.”