Administrative spending in OECD health care systems: Where is the fat and can it be trimmed?

Administrative tasks are essential at all levels of the health care system, from ministries and insurers to health providers. Many tasks are vital to ensure access, equity and quality of health care provision. Other activities may be of limited use, adding no value for patients.This chapter looks into differences in administrative costs at the level of the health care system, for both health care facilities and individual health workers. Some differences are related to the way health care is financed. Many countries see the need to tackle inefficiencies in health care administration. The most promising strategies to increase efficiency are centred on simplifying procedures – partly by making better use of ICT – and optimising the size of administrative bodies to generate economies of scale. Additionally, regulatory changes can have an enormous and immediate effect on administrative costs and the administrative workload of health providers.