CALL FOR PAPERS
EXPLAINING HEALTHCARE SYSTEM CHANGE
Workshop on December 4-5, 2008
Collaborative Research Center 597,
‘Transformations of the State’ at the University of Bremen, Germany
Application deadline: August 1, 2008
Healthcare systems in the OECD world face ongoing reform pressure.
Medical technological progress, demographic change and increasingly
informed consumers tend to raise healthcare costs but also affect the
organization of healthcare systems. While demand is rising, economic
resources are limited and globalization arguably constrains public
financing sources culminating in the need for more efficient healthcare
systems. At the same time, healthcare systems are complex entities,
often characterized by path dependency and institutional inertia and
influenced by notoriously powerful interest groups.
This interdisciplinary workshop aims to bring together researchers in
different fields dealing with the explanation of change in healthcare
systems. We therefore invite a wide range of empirical and theoretical
contributions from healthcare policy, political science, economics,
sociology, and related fields which go beyond mere description and
provide some explanatory account of healthcare system transformation.
Both qualitative and quantitative approaches to the explanation of
healthcare system change are welcomed. We also invite participation from
scholars working in other policy sectors of the welfare state whose work
also applies to healthcare research.
This workshop will be held in Bremen, Germany on December 4-5, 2008.
Papers are invited on any of the following themes:
- Case studies and case comparisons: how can they inform the explanation
of change?
- The role of ideas and values in promoting change
- Policy learning and the diffusion of policy instruments
- The contribution of theory to the understanding of healthcare system
change
o Institutional theories and path dependent explanations
o Functionalist approaches: can efficiency pressure be the motor of change?
o Power resources and interest formation: how do they translate?
We also welcome contributions differentiating between healthcare reform
versus policy drift, conversion, and layering.
Key-note speakers and discussants include David Wilsford, Daniel Beland,
Notburga Ott, Thomas Gerlinger, amongst others.
Applicants should provide a 500 word abstract of their paper by August
1, 2008 to be sent to Heinz Rothgang, Professor of Health Economics at
the Center for Social Policy Research ([log in to unmask]) in
Bremen. If your abstract is accepted for presentation at the conference,
a paper should be submitted by Friday, October 31, 2008.
If you have any questions regarding this workshop, please refer to
Dr. Lorraine Frisina: [log in to unmask], phone:
+49(0)421-218 8729 or
Mirella Cacace: [log in to unmask], phone:
+49(0)421-218 8731.
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