the article by brenna and spandonaro on interregional mobility for acute hospital care in italy raises important issues concerning social and territorial equity in a healthcare system. based on regions and private providers’ strategic behavior, the hypothesis adopted to explain patient cross-border mobility (cbm), demonstrated by statistical analysis, may be further explored using qualitative m...

background in recent years, accreditation of private hospitals followed by decentralisation of the italian national health service (nhs) into 21 regional health systems has provided a good empirical ground for investigating the tiebout principle of “voting with their feet”. we examine the infra-regional trade-off between greater patient choice (due to an increase in hospital services supply) an...

the death of the english national health service (nhs) has been pronounced many times over the years, but the time and cause of death and the murder weapon remains to be fully established. this article reviews some of these claims, and asks for clearer criteria and evidence to be presented.

martin powell suggests that the death of the english national health service (nhs) has been announced so many times we are at risk of not noticing should it actually happen. he is right. if we ‘cry wolf’ too many times, we risk losing sight of what is important about the nhs and why.

despite fiscal stress, public confidence in the national health service (nhs) remains strong; privatisation has not hollowed out the service. but if long term challenges are to be overcome, pragmatism not rhetoric should be the guide.

the article takes its cue from models of quantitative research applied to complementary/alternative medicine (cam) and pinpoints some innovative features in the case at issue (portugal). it goes on to outline new research scenarios moving beyond the either biomedical or cam framework.

martin powell makes the point that the death of the national health service (nhs) is constantly asserted without criteria. this article suggests that the nhs is many things, which makes criteria unstable. the alignment of interests in the structure of the nhs enables both overheated rhetoric and political strength, and that pluralization of provision might actually undermine that alignment over...

in their study, brenna and spandonaro analyzed the mobility into italian regions. in particular, it analyzes the situation of 5 regions, with very different backgrounds. with this paper, we try to better define the meaning of health mobility and to find its underlying causes. furthermore, we propose a strategy that could help in controlling mobility flows that currently are the source of health...