Browse by Topic
Keep current on the latest health policy research.
Search
Related Resources
Program Area
Topics > International Health Policy & Practice > Issues by Country
Many health policy priorities, including quality of care and responsiveness to patients', are common to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., the U.S., and other industrialized nations. Despite their different health systems, lessons can be drawn when policymakers, clinicians, and researchers look beyond their own borders to the experience of other countries.
Featured Publications
Ten-Point Strategy to Achieve Better Health Care
Transformational Change: A Ten-Point Strategy to Achieve Better Health Care for All
Karen Davis, Ph.D., January 2005
In her 2004 Annual Report Message, Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis, Ph.D., lays out a detailed plan to transform the system to achieve "commensurate value for what we spend on health care." Read more >>
International Survey Finds Problems with Primary Care
Primary Care and Health System Performance: Adults' Experiences in Five Countries
Cathy Schoen, M.S., Robin Osborn, M.B.A., Phuong Trang Huynh, Ph.D., Michelle Doty, Ph.D., Karen Davis, Ph.D., Kinga Zapert, Ph.D., and Jordon Peugh, M.A., October 2004
This survey of patients in five industrialized nations finds shortfalls in delivering safe, effective, timely, or patient-centered primary care to be an international problem. In assessing adults' primary care experiences in the last three years in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S., researchers found Americans reported high rates of cost-related difficulties accessing care. U.S. and Canadian adults, meanwhile, were least likely to see a doctor the same day when sick and most likely to wait multiple days for care. Read more >>
Views of Hospital Executives from Five Countries
2003 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Hospital Executives
Cathy Schoen, M.S., Robert J. Blendon, M.B.A., Sc.D., Catherine M. DesRoches, Dr.P.H., Robin Osborn, M.B.A., Elizabeth Raleigh, Phuong Trang Huynh, Ph.D., Alice Ho, and Kinga Zapert, Ph.D., September 2004
The Commonwealth Fund 2003 International Health Policy Survey provides a comparative perspective on health policy issues in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The 2003 survey consisted of interviews with a sample of hospital chief operating officers or top administrators of the larger hospitals across the five nations. Read more >>
Can the 'Doughnut Hole' Be Eliminated?
Doughnut Holes and Price Controls
Gerard F. Anderson, Ph.D, July 2004
By reducing prices of key drugs to levels comparable to those in other industrialized nations, the U.S. government could eliminate the current gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage, says a Commonwealth Fund–supported study posted July 21 on the Health Affairs Web site. Read more >>
International Group's Report on Quality of Care
First Report and Recommendations of the Commonwealth Fund's International Working Group on Quality Indicators
June 2004
The Commonwealth Fund's International Working Group on Quality Indicators released its first report to the health ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The report provides detailed data on 40 key health care quality indicators, which the Working Group developed to help benchmark and compare health care system performance across the five countries. Read more >>