Faster Better
Faster Better
When
2003–2006
Client
Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sport
Brief
Free-market forces in healthcare. Is the sector ready for this? Develop a campaign in which the principal interested parties take part in an ongoing dialogue about the reforms in the healthcare system.
Background
The healthcare sector is changing fundamentally. Hospitals and health insurers are switching to a more client-focused, demand-oriented model. This is because the healthcare system needs to become faster and better, but that doesn’t happen overnight.
The campaign
At the request of the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sport and the Dutch Association of Hospitals, the Order of Medical Specialists, BKB developed a campaign with the goal of improving the transparency, efficiency and quality of healthcare.
The many different interests and complicated regulations within Dutch healthcare make it a complex sector. Changes in the sector can thus not simply be imposed from the top down. The sector must initiate them itself. As a result, BKB opted for a positive approach and asked the sector to look at it own successes, thereby deriving lessons for the future by looking at best practices from the past.
The campaign covered a substantial period, from 2003 to 2006, and consisted of various different components, all of which BKB oversaw and directed. The campaign encouraged an ongoing dialogue between policymakers, health providers and health insurers. Below, we describe a number of the most important campaign components.
The envoys
Faster, Better asked externals with a specific expertise to shine their light on five knotty issues in the healthcare sector. BKB recruited these so-called envoys for Faster, Better from outside the sector; because if patients and their demand for healthcare are to take precedence over supply, then the healthcare sector can learn a great deal from the business world.
Peter Bakker, CEO of the postal company TPG, advised the minister on logistics in the healthcare sector. Rein Willems, Director of Shell Netherlands, studied patient safety. And Johan van der Werf of AEGON looked into the issue of accountability. Two other issues were innovation and control.
Consultations in the field
BKB organised regular town hall meetings in which Minister Hoogevorst and a changing group of healthcare providers and health insurers shared their thoughts about market forces and how they will impact the healthcare sector. The meetings had an open and constructive character.
Benchmarks and indicators
Faster, Better aimed to develop an efficient and goal-oriented method of supervision that would encourage the sector to improve the quality of healthcare. The method was a set of indicators that was determined in cooperation with healthcare professionals and the Ministry of Health. The indicators were tested for feasibility and consistency in eight hospitals.