Page 156 - Human Rights

Faculty of Nursing
Adult care Nursing Department

The convergence of various factors, especially the demographic transition, will require

considerable creativity to overcome the inevitable economic pressures from the social protection

systems.

The intro duction of quasi-markets and new public management in healthcare reflects this
evolution. Further, this reformist course necessitates proper supervision to protect important

social values (Griffith and Smith 2014).

Indeed, the lack of economic sustainability of healthcare systems in most countries and a higher

demand for increased quality and safety of these systems have contributed to the development
of regulation as a decisive factor for modernization, innovation, and competitiveness in the

healthcare sector.

The role of healthcare regulation has two essential aspects.

First, it intends to guarantee appropriate competition, namely in the context of a quasi-market

where different providers apply for public financing of their healthcare activities.

The government by contract is the paradigm of this type of service, where the guarantee of the

quality of the services offered is more important than the institutional nature of the providers.

Second, economic regulation intends to correct the market failures in this sector which require
constant and persistent supervision:

information asymmetry, externalities, service scarcity, market uncertainty, and monopoly

creation. Healthcare regulation also intends to safeguard the basic rights of the citizens, namely
concerning the practice of cream-skimming or even the induced demand of healthcare that

inevitably leads to overtreatment.

As such, social regulation is an instrument that affirms the basic rights of the patients.

134 Academic Year 2025/2026