June 30, 2000
Priority Topics for the BIAC Task Force on Health Care Policy
Having examined the OECD “Strategy for ELSAC work on health policy over the period 2000-2004,” the USCIB Health Care Working Group welcomes the efforts within the OECD to organize its health care policy work in a horizontal manner, something the BIAC group has been requesting for sometime. This new strategy for ELSAC work on health policy demonstrates the increased relevance of health care issues across a wide spectrum of OECD Committees and activities.
Priority Topics
The USCIB Health Care Working Group believes there are three main areas in which the BIAC Task Force on Health Care Policy should specifically focus its priorities to best contribute to the work of the OECD on health care issues. These three areas are:
1. Dynamic pressures on health care as defined by the questions in point ii of Part 1 of the “Strategy for ELSAC work on health policy over the period 2000-2004.” The Task Force should also consider the impact of rising consumer information and power, as this stretches beyond the confines of national frontiers.
2. Methods of financing health care, including alternative funding mechanisms based on choice and competition.
3. Reforming health care systems, taking into account new health technologies and their impact on the delivery, financing and provision of care. Regulatory reform, is an area in which the OECD could usefully lend support to the development and maintenance of independent, efficient, and science-based licensing systems.
All three of these areas are closely related to the new research and policies on aging populations and the rapid pace of technological change. These two specific developments should be examined by the Task Force as they relate to the above three areas.
