title: [Improving healthcare and its manageability].
abstract: Healthcare in the Netherlands is facing serious challenges. With an ageing population, the consumption of healthcare is on the rise. Quality needs to go up while costs have to go down. The Netherlands Institute for Social Research estimates that healthcare costs, as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product, will rise from 13% in 2011 (90 billion euros) up to 31% in 2040. Clear choices need to be made in the near future; otherwise, the cost of healthcare will become prohibitive. This commentary explains why volume-directed healthcare alone is not the magic answer. Besides criteria related to process and structure, we are also in need of robust and valid data. Clinical auditing combined with patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and financial data will give the additional tools needed to improve and manage healthcare.
authors.affiliation: Deventer Ziekenhuis, afd. Heelkunde, Deventer, the Netherlands. eh@eddes.nl
authors.forename: Eric Hans
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Eddes
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends