GOVERNANCE OF HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS IN AN AGEING WORLD – THE CASE OF AUSTRALIA

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Abstract

The main argument of this paper is that because the burden of diseases increases with age, a greater numbers of older individuals will increase the demand for health care, and whether this demand will be met very much depends on how health care systems are governed. This task is particularly complex in jurisdictions with multi-layer governing systems such as the Australian health care system. Governance, described in terms of stewardship of the well-being of the population and as a central component for building effective health care systems, is increasingly considered to be very important for a well performing health care system (World Health Organization, 2000, 2007). Governance is, however, the least studied function in a health care system (Alliance 2009). Furthermore, the limited governance frameworks and assessments that have been developed thus far fail to include the political context in which health care systems operate (Baez-Camargo and Jacobs, 2011). This paper intends to fill this knowledge gap by exploring the political dynamics of the Australian health care system’s governance and its accountability. Furthering the discourse on governance is especially important in times when health care systems are confronted with the challenges of ageing populations.

Keywords: Corporate Governance, Australia, Health Care Systems

How to cite this paper: Banasik, E. (2015). Governance of health care systems in an ageing world – the case of Australia. Corporate Ownership & Control, 13(1-7), 729-735. https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv13i1c7p1