British Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt announced plans for Britain's National Health Service to make a strategic shift toward outpatient procedures this week. The government is encouraging bidding by outside vendors likely to include many UK companies such as insurer and hospital system BUPA, as well as UnitedHealth Group in the U.S. The policy change is seen as a means of helping hospitals survive, but paradoxically it may also put additional pressure on them, argues the Financial Times.
- read this article from the Financial Times