New public management, physicians and populism: Turkey's experience with health reforms.

Recent debates on the rise of right-wing or neoliberal populism globally have prompted public health and health systems researchers to explore its implications in the healthcare systems. This case study of Turkey's recent health reform initiative, the Health Transformation Program, aims to contribute to this debate by examining the nexus among populism, professionalism and the contemporary market and managerial reforms, often described as New Public Management (NPM). Building on document analysis and secondary sources, this article introduces a framework to explore whether and how populist agendas grow up in the shadow of NPM policies. We aim to deepen our understanding of the governance settings that might be used in different ways by right-wing populist leaders to advance their agendas. Our research reveals that the NPM reforms in Turkey have opened a 'backdoor' through which right-wing populist agendas were supported and the position of the medical profession as an important stakeholder in the institutional settings was weakened. However, what mattered most in the reform process was not the policies themselves but the ways new managerialist policies were implemented. Our analysis makes blind spots of the NPM reforms and healthcare governance research visible and calls for greater attention to implementation processes.

The effects of expanding the generosity of statutory sick leave insurance: The case of a French reform.

This study evaluates the impact of the French reform of 11 January 2008 in the private sector, which modified the share of sick leave paid by the employer in addition to the social security benefit. The reform is comprised of two parts: the waiting period until complementary payment is made by the employer, reduced from ten to seven days; and the minimum required tenure to be eligible, reduced from three years to one year. In this study, we use the administrative panel data (Hygie) from 2006 to 2010 along with a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) database. The latter was constructed by the authors in order to collect the parameters of complementary benefits for sick leave. We examined separately the effects of the waiting period part and the tenure part of the reform, using a difference-in-differences strategy with matching. When the waiting period is reduced, the number of sick days' increase significantly (+ 0.5 days). When the minimum tenure requirement is reduced, there is more impact on sick leave (+ 0.6 days on the number of sick days and + 0.9 pp on sickness probability). The effects of sick pay reform are different between men and women.

Role of nurse practitioners within health system in India: A case of untapped potential.

Nurses form the pillar of India's healthcare system representing 30.5% of the entire health workforce in India. Amidst a significant shortage in the provision of effective primary care, jeopardizing millions of Indians' access to basic healthcare services, especially the poorest, it is very evident that nurse practitioners are the need of the hour in India. The current scenario of nursing in India warrants policy reforms to facilitate nurses as valuable primary care providers. It also shows the path towards making the Health and Wellness Centre operational by creating a pivotal role for the cadre in such centres, and it will also be important for the nurse practitioner to have a public health leadership role in a country like India. With additional training and qualification and also recognition of nurse practitioners as essential healthcare providers, a complete quality healthcare could be provided. In this research paper we assess the need for nurse practitioners as primary contact providers; reflect on the global evidence on nurse practitioners linking to health outcomes, effective coverage and access to services. We also try to contemplate on the training needs, their role in home-based care and as enablers of the referral mechanism, their untapped potential, and a plan for evaluating their effectiveness. This policy research paper focuses to build an argument for a policy towards making nurse practitioners the first contact providers.