The Hertie School’s Governance Report: Governance of modern health systems needs fundamental reforms

Berlin, 25 October 2019  –  Modern health systems have reached a level of complexity that makes them almost impossible to control. Meanwhile, the pressure for reform is enormous, due to an ageing population and increasing demand for care coupled with a shortage of personnel. With the Governance Report, published by Oxford University Press, the Hertie School presents a critical assessment of the challenges faced by politicians, care facilities and patients. The report focuses on how to ensure adequate, equitable and efficient care, tailored to the individual needs of patients. Funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, the Governance Report will be presented at the Hertie School on 4 November. Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn will offer his comments on the report’s analyses and recommendations from his point of view as Germany’s top political representative in the area of health.

In the Governance Report, researchers from different countries analyse, among other things, various approaches to reducing inequalities in health and healthcare, changing care systems to become more patient-oriented, ensuring the security of care in times of global epidemics and improving the provision of services through digitalisation. All analyses emphasise the extent to which economic and social prosperity in advanced societies depends on efficient health protection and tailor-made healthcare. Therefore, the overarching approach “Health in All Policies” (HiAP) must establish health as the most crucial cross-cutting policy issue and improve coordination between the various actors, according to editors Klaus Hurrelmann, Mujaheed Shaikh (both Hertie School) and Claus Wendt (University of Siegen) in their summary of the main findings of the report.

“The major challenges in the health sector can only be addressed successfully if the involvement of all actors is ensured and their transactions become more transparent,” says Mujaheed Shaikh. The Professor of Health Governance at the Hertie School is also involved in “Neustart” (Restart), an initiative by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, which develops health reform proposals with both experts and citizen dialogues. “The Governance Report’s international perspective provides an important foundation for our initiative ‘Neustart’, which focuses on the German healthcare system. The experts’ analyses confirm that now is the time to develop bold ideas to help all citizens have access to needs-based healthcare, even in 20 years from now,” says Bernadette Klapper, Senior Vice President Health at the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

Discussion with Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn

The Governance Report will be presented at the Hertie School in Berlin on 4 November at 5.30 p.m. with a speech by Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn and a discussion with the authors. The event titled “Governing the ungovernable? Rising to the challenges of modern healthcare” will be held in English. Experts will discuss the report’s results with Mujaheed Shaikh and Bernadette Klapper at the World Health Summit in Berlin on 28 October.

Find more information about the event and register here.

About the Governance Report

The Governance Report 2019, ed.: Hertie School, Oxford University Press 2019, was written under the academic direction of Klaus Hurrelmann, Mujaheed Shaikh and Claus Wendt. It is the seventh book in a series highlighting governance challenges and how to approach them. The 2019 report includes contributions by Ellen M. Immergut, Ilona Kickbusch, Hanna Schwander and Christian Traxler, among others. This publication on Health Governance was funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH.

Short summaries of the report in English and German and the possibility to order a review copy can be found here: www.governancereport.org