Health Professional Mobility and Health Systems : Evidence from 17 European Countries

by Wismar, Matthias

• ISBN13: 9789289002479
• ISBN10: 9289002476
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-07-01
• Publisher: STYLUS PUBLISHING LLC

Summary

The mobility of health professionals affects the performance of health systems, and increasingly so since the European Union (EU) enlargements in 2004 and 2007. This publication presents research on the gaps in knowledge about the numbers, trends, impacts and policy responses to this dynamic situation, in particular in Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Conducted within the framework of the European Commission s Health PROMeTHEUS project, the research posed a set of questions of key interest to policy-makers: * What are the scale and characteristics of health professional mobility in the EU? * What have been the effects of EU enlargement? * What are the motivations of the mobile workforce? * What are the resulting impacts on health system performance? * What is the policy relevance of those impacts? * What are the policy options to address health professional mobility issues? In answering these questions, this publication offers policymakers evidence of the nature and extent of health professional mobility in the EU, analyzes its impact on country health systems and outlines some major policy strategies to address mobility.

Author Biography

Matthias Wismar is Senior Health Policy Analyst at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Claudia B. Maier is a Technical Officer at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Irene A.Glinos is a Researcher at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Gilles Dussault is a Professor at the Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova De Lisboa. Josep Figueras is Director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and Head of the WHO European Centre for Health Policy.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
List of tables, figures and boxes	p. xv
List of abbreviations	p. xxvii
List of contributors	p. xxix
Setting the scene, results and conclusions	p. 1
Health professional mobility and health systems in Europe: an introduction	p. 3
Cross-country analysis of health professional mobility in Europe: the results	p. 23
Health professional mobility and health systems in Europe: conclusions from the case-studies	p. 67
Case studies from countries that joined the EU before 2004	p. 87
Mobility, language and neighbours: Austria as source and destination country	p. 89
Of permeable borders: Belgium as both source and host countr	p. 129
Changing context and priorities in recruitment and employment: Finland balances inflows and outflows of health professionals	p. 163
Nationally moderate, locally significant: France and health professional mobility from far and near	p. 181
A destination and a source: Germany manages regional health workforce disparities with foreign medical doctors	p. 211
Oversupplying doctors but seeking carers: Italy's demographic challenges and health professional mobility	p. 243
Opportunities in an expanding health service: Spain between Latin America and Europe	p. 263
A major destination country: the United Kingdom and its changing recruitment policies	p. 295
Case studies from countries that joined the EU in 2004 or 2007	p. 337
Migration and attrition: Estonia's health sector and cross-border mobility to its northern neighbour	p. 339
From melting pot to laboratory of change in central Europe: Hungary and health workforce migration	p. 365
Awareness, planning and retention: Lithuania's approach to managing health professional mobility	p. 395
When the grass gets greener at home: Poland's changing incentives for health professional mobility	p. 419
Emergent challenge of health professional emigration: Romania's accession to the EU	p. 449
Regaining self-sufficiency: Slovakia and the challenges of health professionals leaving the country	p. 479
Addressing shortages: Slovenia's reliance on foreign health professionals, current developments and policy responses	p. 511
Case studies from third countries having applied for EU membership	p. 539
Geopolitics, economic downturn and oversupply of medical doctors: Serbia's emigrating health professionals	p. 541
At the crossroads:Turkey's domestic workforce and restrictive labour laws in the light of EU candidacy	p. 569
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