Healthcare and Elderly Care in Europe

Institutions, Challenges, and Solutions for Better Coordination

Thomas Bahle, PhD, Senior Researcher, Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES), University of Mannheim, Mareike Ariaans, PhD, Senior Researcher, University of Siegen and Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES), University of Mannheim, Katharina Koch, Researcher, Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES), University of Mannheim and Claus Wendt, Professor of Sociology of Health and Healthcare Systems, University of Siegen and Research Fellow, Mannheim Center for European Social Research, University of Mannheim, Germany

Given growing caseloads, limited funding and staff shortages, the need for coordination in healthcare and elderly care is at an all-time high. This timely book conducts a cross-national analysis of coordination problems in healthcare and long-term care systems and provides novel insights on how to improve the lives of the elderly.

‘This book focuses on a very important yet understudied topic: how to improve the living conditions of frail older people through better coordination between healthcare and elderly care systems. The volume analyses the coordination problems in Continental European countries and puts forward very interesting proposals for solutions. The book is a necessary read for those studying long-term care systems.’
– Emmanuele Pavolini, University of Macerata, Italy

‘Coordination in service delivery is important for individual well-being and a great challenge for contemporary systems of care. This book provides an insightful and theoretically grounded comparative analysis of coordination problems in long-term care, as well as a great variety of concrete solutions to overcome the most challenging obstacles for effective coordination.’
——肯尼斯·尼尔森,斯德哥尔摩University, Sweden

‘Clearly written and well-researched, this book applies a compelling actor-centric and institutionalist framework to analyze and compare coordination problems between healthcare and elderly care systems in four European countries: Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. Students of health policy governance should learn a great deal from reading this excellent book.’
– Daniel Béland, McGill University, Canada