Risk Management and Healthcare Policy (Jul 2023)
Health Care Reforms, Power Concentration, and Receding Citizen Participation
Abstract
Daniel Simonet Department of Management, Strategy & Entrepreneurship, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab EmiratesCorrespondence: Daniel Simonet, Email [email protected]: The article highlights several outstanding features of French healthcare reforms in light of New Public Management (NPM). The paper exposes the economic, administrative, and social context of reforms. It investigates horizontal integration, as exemplified by the concentration of power within the Regional Health Organizations, the verticalization of the chain of command, and ensuing conflicts between the French welfare elite and the operating core (eg, the medical profession). Outcomes were below expectations in many areas. The NPM-endorsed fragmentation of public organizations has yet to take root in the French healthcare system. There was little consultation with the medical profession. Physicians’ autonomy and patients’ rights receded.Keywords: health care reform, public administration, France, new public management
