IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v7y2014i1p294-312d44112.html

Fit for the Future? A New Approach in the Debate about What Makes Healthcare Systems Really Sustainable

Author

Listed:
  • Matthias Fischer

    (Institute for Sustainability Governance, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Scharnhorststraße 1, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany)

Abstract

As healthcare systems face enormous challenges, sustainability is seen as a crucial requirement for making them fit for the future. However, there is no consensus with regard to either the definition of the term or the factors that characterize a “sustainable healthcare system”. Therefore, the aim of this article is twofold. First, it gives examples of the existing literature about sustainable healthcare systems and analyzes this literature with regard to its understanding of sustainability and the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches. The article then identifies crucial factors for sustainable healthcare systems, and the result, a conceptual framework consisting of five distinct and interacting factors, can be seen as a starting point for further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthias Fischer, 2014. "Fit for the Future? A New Approach in the Debate about What Makes Healthcare Systems Really Sustainable," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2014:i:1:p:294-312:d:44112
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/1/294/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/1/294/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harald Heinrichs & Norman Laws, 2014. "“Sustainability State” in the Making? Institutionalization of Sustainability in German Federal Policy Making," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(5), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Berman, Peter, 1995. "Health sector reform: making health development sustainable," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-3), pages 13-28.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christin Seifert, 2018. "The Barriers for Voluntary Environmental Management Systems—The Case of EMAS in Hospitals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Federica Bosco & Chiara Di Gerio & Gloria Fiorani, 2023. "La sfida della sostenibilit? nelle organizzazioni pubbliche ad alta intensit? di conoscenza. Un modello per integrare le logiche ESG all?interno delle corporate strategies delle organizzazioni sanitarie," MECOSAN, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2023(128), pages 47-75.
    3. Florian Ahrens & Lisa-Marie Nettlenbusch & Susan Krumdieck & Alexander Hasse, 2025. "Sustainable Healthcare Plastic Products: Application of the Transition Engineering Design Approach Yields a Novel Concept for Circularity and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-21, May.
    4. Veronica Ungaro & Roberta Guglielmetti Mugion & Maria Francesca Renzi & Laura Di Pietro, 2024. "Dispositivi medici tra qualit? e circolarit?: stato dell?arte e opportunit? future," MECOSAN, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2024(131), pages 57-78.
    5. Gang Du & Chuanwang Sun, 2015. "Location Planning Problem of Service Centers for Sustainable Home Healthcare: Evidence from the Empirical Analysis of Shanghai," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-21, November.
    6. Martina Pisarra & Marta Marsilio & Letizia Magnani & Gian Vincenzo Zuccotti, 2024. "Sostenibilit? in sanit?: una valutazione degli impatti della telemedicina," MECOSAN, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2024(130), pages 109-136.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kutzin, Joseph, 2001. "A descriptive framework for country-level analysis of health care financing arrangements," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 171-204, June.
    2. Gertler, Paul J. & Hammer, Jeffrey S., 1997. "Strategies for pricing publicly provided health services," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1762, The World Bank.
    3. Makokha, Racheal Omukhulu, 2017. "Does Decentralization Improve Provision of Health Services? Evidence from Kisumu and Makueni Counties in Kenya," Thesis Commons xef7a, Center for Open Science.
    4. Martina Pisarra & Marta Marsilio & Letizia Magnani & Gian Vincenzo Zuccotti, 2024. "Sostenibilit? in sanit?: una valutazione degli impatti della telemedicina," MECOSAN, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2024(130), pages 109-136.
    5. Pokhrel, Subhash, 2007. "Determinants of parental reports of children's illnesses: Empirical evidence from Nepal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(6), pages 1106-1117, September.
    6. Buse, Kent & Walt, Gill, 1996. "Aid coordination for health sector reform: a conceptual framework for analysis and assessment," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 173-187, December.
    7. Mathias Payer & Martin Schüder & Tanja Gemünden & Henning Zülch, 2025. "Aligning ESG ratings with cultural values: a framework for the German-speaking region," Sustainability Nexus Forum, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 1-19, December.
    8. Ardeshir Sepehri & Robert Chernomas, 2001. "Are user charges efficiency- and equity-enhancing? A critical review of economic literature with particular reference to experience from developing countries," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(2), pages 183-209.
    9. Cristiana Fiorelli & Nicola Pontarollo & Carolina Serpieri, 2022. "Legislative interventions for the Italian local public financial distress," Working Papers in Public Economics 219, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Rome.
    10. Mohammad Hajizadeh & Hong Nghiem, 2011. "Out-of-pocket expenditures for hospital care in Iran: who is at risk of incurring catastrophic payments?," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 267-285, December.
    11. Suraratdecha, Chutima & Okunade, Albert A., 2006. "Measuring operational efficiency in a health care system: A case study from Thailand," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 2-23, June.
    12. Tang, Shenglan & Squire, Stephen Bertel, 2005. "What lessons can de drawn from tuberculosis (TB) Control in China in the 1990s?: An analysis from a health system perspective," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 93-104, April.
    13. Jana Birner & Basil Bornemann & Frank Biermann, 2024. "Policy integration through the Sustainable Development Goals? The case of the German Federal Government," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 3877-3889, August.
    14. Sarah Feron & Raúl R. Cordero, 2018. "Is Peru Prepared for Large-Scale Sustainable Rural Electrification?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    15. Marc Dressler, 2024. "Meeting Market and Societal Ambitions with New Robust Grape Varietals: Sustainability, the Green Deal, and Wineries’ Resilience," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-24, November.
    16. Angelo Paletta & Eleonora Foschi & Genc Alimehmeti & Alessandra Bonoli, 2021. "A Step-by-Step Process towards an Evolutionary Policy Encouraging the Adoption of Sustainable Business Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-16, January.
    17. Deshpande, Kirti & RaviShankar & Diwan, Vishal & Lonnroth, Knut & Mahadik, Vijay Kumar & Chandorkar, Ram Krishna, 2004. "Spatial pattern of private health care provision in Ujjain, India: a provider survey processed and analysed with a Geographical Information System," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 211-222, May.
    18. Matthias Fischer, 2016. "Welfare with or without Growth? Potential Lessons from the German Healthcare System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-14, October.
    19. Collins, Charles & Green, Andrew & Hunter, David, 1999. "Health sector reform and the interpretation of policy context," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 69-83, April.
    20. Fu-Hsuan Chen & Hao-Ren Liu, 2021. "Evaluation of Sustainable Development in Six Transformation Fields of the Central Taiwan Science Park," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-14, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2014:i:1:p:294-312:d:44112. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.