Public Private Partnerships for Healthcare in European Countries

Abstract

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) are a long-term contract between a private party and a government entity, for providing a public asset or service, in which the private party bears significant risk and management responsibility and remuneration is linked to performance.  PPPs can improve maintenance of infrastructure assets by improving incentives for both private contractors and governments to make quality maintenance a priority

Governments need tools to improve performance. A growing number of governments are interested in partnering with the private sector to provide public infrastructure assets and services. PPPs are an alternative that can help by stepping outside a traditional model.

Government spending on healthcare is growing at a pace that is likely to be unsustainable unless new funding sources are found.  The public sector is often constrained by lack of funding; access to innovation and technology; and efficient and experienced healthcare management. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) can help expand key health services and improve quality, complementing the traditional public-sector approach with various forms of private-sector participation.  Investing in hospitals will be key to this success, and PPPs have already played a significant role in the building, equipping, and maintaining of hospital infrastructure around the world.

PPPs are challenging the notion that private healthcare is for the rich, and public healthcare is for the poor. Rather than creating or exacerbating inequities in care, PPPs can equalize care across all populations.  In developed countries, PPPs have been used to develop and maintain healthcare infrastructure, mostly leaving service provision in the public domain. The number and range of PPP programmes have grown across the European Countries. This paper will provide an overview of what we mean by PPPs, discuss challenges surrounding the designing and generate a view on ongoing global trends in the provisioning of healthcare services, with some European Countries.