A New Synthesis in Search of Synthesizing Agents; Comment on “A New Synthesis”
نویسندگان
1 Centre for Health Policy, Planning and Management, School of Health Systems Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India
doi
10.15171/ijhpm.2014.27چکیده
In a recent editorial in this journal Pierre-Gerlier Forest foretells a coming revolution in health policy based on the synthesis of four conceptual innovations and one technological breakthrough. As much as I agree with the intellectual story told in this editorial I present a more skeptical view of the effect of paradigm shifts on healthcare systems on the ground. I argue that ideas triumph when times are ripe and times are ripe in health policy when payers and providers can find a compromise between the need to value what providers do and their professional autonomy. I also argue that autonomy is a product of the market: patients value autonomy and prefer doctors to insurers.
