Tutorial 3

Title:
New Public Management Reforms in Healthcare. Lessons from reform experiences in the Nordic countries

Content:
In Norway, as in many other democratic welfare states, better management and new forms of organisation (New Public Management-reforms), have for a decade been at the centre of initiatives to cut public spending and make the public sector more efficient in relation to resource management and more patient friendly services. Unitary management was implemented in Norwegian hospitals from 2002. A regional reform will be introduced in Danish health care from 2007, and similar reforms are planned in the Swedish health care. Strong belief in New-Public Management-techniques and emphasis on responsibility and executive power among the "the new managers" imply a radical break with the traditional management models in Norwegian hospitals.

The main questions to be dealt with in this tutorial session are:
Who defines the raison d'être of a hospital best?  What values, norms and interests shall decide? How much autonomy has the new "empowered" health enterprise managers actual got after the New Public Management reforms in the Nordic countries? In association to these questions a following discussion will deal with implications of New-Public-Management-reforms in health-care in relation to the telemedicine sector.

Who should attend (target group):
Managers in healthcare, Clinical Managers, Students of healthcare organizations

Used material:
Byrkjeflot (2005)
Kragh Jespersen (2005)
Vrangbæk and Torjesen (2004; 2005)
Opedal and Stigen (ed.) (2005
Torjesen and Gammelsæter (2003; 2005)

Instructors:
Dag Olaf Torjesen, Associate Professor Agder University College and Ph.D-student at Stein Rokkan Centre for Social Studies.
Morten Brattvoll, Political Scientist / Chief Consultant, Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine.

Level:
50% basic + 50% intermediate

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