Health Governance

Recommended Prerequisites

NA

Teaching Methods

Exposure of key contents for each theme using audiovisual systems. Discussion in small groups or larger group reflection. All materials related with the course will be placed on the platform InforEstudante. The evaluation process includes a final exam (100%) or continuous assessment through the development of a group work with two components: written work (70%) and presentation/discussion (30%). The theme of the work is chosen from among a set of alternatives to disclose in class. Alternatively students may suggest other topics, provided they are within/related to the various themes addressed. The issues to discuss at the work should be analyzed with the teacher of the discipline. Groups of two students

Learning Outcomes

This course intends to explore the concept of governance and the principles of good governance applied to the context of health at different levels. It will examine six major themes and the interactions between them: governance, corporate governance, health governance, clinical governance, integrated governance and hospital governance. The main aim is to provide students with the knowledge necessary to master the various concepts related to governance and extend them to the area of health in their decision processes. Specifically, define the concept of governance, in its multiple interpretations, identify and characterize the principles associated with good governance and be able to extend these concepts to health care at different levels – macro (national government decisions), meso (decision making at the overall institutional level) and micro (day-to-day operational management of staff and services inside the organization).

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Governance: varieties of governance; importance of governance; Public Administration reforms, New Public Management and New Public Service; principles of good governance; measuring, monitoring and assessment of governance.

Corporate governance: importance of corporate governance; actors and theories of corporate governance; systems, codes and principles of good governance.

Health governance: different perspectives from international institutions; health systems and healthcare market; reforms in the health sector; characteristics of good health governance; health governance vs. stewardship; complex adaptive systems; change management; challenges and analysis of health governance in Portugal.

Hospital governance: hospital and organizational reforms; hospital performance; governance practices and evidence; hospital governance in Portugal.

Integrated and clinical governance: main components; assumptions and Portuguese situation in primary healthcare and hospital sectors.

Head Lecturer(s)

Víctor Manuel dos Reis Raposo

Assessment Methods

Assessement
The evaluation process includes a final exam (100%) or continuous assessment through the development of a group work with two components: written work (70%) and presentation/discussion (30%). : 100.0%

Bibliography

CAMPOS, L., BORGES, M. & PORTUGAL, R. (Eds.) (2009) Governação dos Hospitais, Alfragide, Casa das Letras.

CLARKE, T. (Ed.) (2008) Theories of Corporate Governance: The philosophical foundations of corporate

governance, London, Routledge.

COCHRAN, P. L. & WARTICK, S. L. (1988) Corporate Governance - A Review of the Literature, Morristown, New Jersey, Financial Executives Research Foundation.

CROSSON, F. J. & TOLLEN, L. A. (Eds.) (2010) Partners in health: how physicians and hospitals can be accountable together, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.

GRIFFIN, D. J. (Ed.) (2012) Hospitals: what they are and how they work, Sudbury, Jones & Bartlett Learning.

KOOIMAN, J. (2003) Governing as governance, London, Sage Publications.

OSBORNE, S. P. (Ed.) (2010) The new public governance?: emerging perspectives on the theory and practice of public governance, London, Routledge.