Controlling Medical Professionals : The Comparative Politics of Health Governance

Momentous changes have taken place in the governance of health services. Notably, doctors now share their once unchallenged power with a host of new decision-makers. This book provides a comparative analysis to the health systems of different Western countries from a political science perspective. As such, it makes a significant contribution to the debate on the current crisis in administering and funding the health services.

On the macro level, three chapters address the methodological problems of policy analysis in the health sector; compare national standards of medical behaviour and action; and evaluate the relationship between government intervention and technological innovation in the delivery of medical services.

On the micro level, themes such as control of and by professionals, centralization of decision-making, and the use of government power to control specific behaviours are pursued through national case studies of Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the United States and West Germany.

At a time of concern about the provision of health care, and its unprecedented cost, Controlling Medical Professionals will be of great interest to political scientists, sociologists and health administrators.