SpringerLink
Log in

Corporate Management Recipes in the Reform of the French Health Care System

  • Published:
Public Organization Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

France’s adoption of corporate management strategies for its public services, its decision to consolidate health care agencies and to delegate decision-making power to high-level bureaucrats and Regional Health Agencies was influenced by several factors. These include the political context, characterized by a reduction in public expenditures by governments worldwide. Additionally, the European integration and the adoption of austerity measures following the 2008 financial crisis played a significant role in sha** these policy changes. The emphasis was also on private sector entities, and the re-centralization of decision-making in health affairs. Nevertheless, outcomes did not meet expectations, which led to a negative assessment of New Public Management (NPM) in the healthcare sector and other public areas that experienced similar reforms.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Germany)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. https://www.bfmtv.com/economie/pourquoi-la-france-compte-plus-d-ultrariches-que-la-chine-ou-l-allemagne_AV-202105020152.html?fbclid=IwAR2uK1t26m3OycRkN5hKRVVBh_QmA6Jmk7fdSt4GepgXst1P4WJ9hNsTgBA.

  2. https://www.usine-digitale.fr/article/pour-reduire-les-taches-administratives-l-hopital-de-nancy-mise-sur-la-reconnaissance-vocale-de-nuance.N919454.

References

  • Albalate, D., Bel, G., Gradus, R., & Reeves, E. (2021). Re-municipalization of local public services: Incidence, causes, and prospects. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 87(3), 419–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alonso, J. M., Clifton, J., & Díaz-Fuentes, D. (2022). Corporatization and political ideology: The case of hospitals in Spain. Public Administration, 100(2), 324–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbieri, P. (2017). The death and life of social democracy. Foreign Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beder, S. (2012). Suiting themselves: How corporations drive the global agenda. Earthscan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Benamouzig, D., & Besançon, J. (2007). Les agences, alternatives administratives ou nouvelles bureaucraties techniques? Le Cas Des agences sanitaires. Horizons Stratégiques, 1, 10–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernier, L., Juillet, L., & Deschamps, C. (2022). Why create government corporations? An examination of the determinants of corporatization in the Canadian public sector. Public Administration, 100(2), 216–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bessis, S., Schnitzler, A., Mascitti, H., Duran, C., & Dinh, A. (2021). Surmortalité dans les maisons de retraite pendant la pandémie de COVID-19. Infectious Diseases Now, 51(5), S64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bezes, P. (2016). Challenges to French Public Administration. The Oxford handbook of French politics, 243.

  • Blayac, T., & Bougette, P. (2017). Should I go by bus? The liberalization of the long-distance bus industry in France. Transport Policy, 56, 50–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bode, I. (2019). Let’s count and manage–and forget the rest. Understanding numeric rationalization in human service provision. Historical Social Research/Historische Sozialforschung, 44(2 168), 131–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bordet, A. (2012). L’hôpital mis à mal par le management. URL: http://www.laviedesidees.fr/L-hopital-mis-a-mal-par-le.html. Accessed 8 June 2021.

  • Boussard, V. (2009). Les consultants Au cœur des interdépendances de l’espace de la gestion. Cahiers Internationaux de Sociologie, 126(1), 99–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabanis, A., & Păceșilă, M. (2022). Reform of local government in France, always starts again. Applied Research in Administrative Sciences, 3(1), 25–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camargo, R. (2020). La alarma ya existía en las residencias de mayores antes del coronavirus. El País. Available from https://elpais.com/espana/madrid/2020-03-21/la-alarma-ya-existia-en-las-residencias-de-mayores-antes-del-coronavirus.html. Accessed 15 June 2021.

  • Cantrelle, C., Dorent, R., Savoye, E., Tuppin, P., Lebreton, G., Legeai, C., & Bastien, O. (2018). Factors contributing to geographic disparities in access to heart transplantation in France. Archives of Cardiovascular Diseases Supplements, 10(1), 39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carreira, M. D. C. S. (2021). Accountability and transparency policies in Spanish Public-Owned enterprises (p. 61). POEs)/Spain.

  • Cepiku, D., & Mastrodascio, M. (2021). Equity in public services: A systematic literature review. Public Administration Review, 81(6), 1019–1032.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chevreul, K., Berg Brigham, K., Durand-Zaleski, I., & Hernandez-Quevedo C. (2015). France: Health System Review. Health Syst Transit, 17(3), 1–218.

  • Choné, P. (2017). Competition policy for health care provision in France. Health Policy, 121(2), 111–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ciarini, A., & Neri, S. (2021). Intended’and ‘unintended’consequences of the privatisation of health and social care systems in Italy in light of the pandemic. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 27(3), 303–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, E., & Buigues, P. A. (2014). Le décrochage Industriel. Fayard.

  • Cooper, C., Tweedie, J., Andrew, J., & Baker, M. (2022). From business-like to businesses: Agencification, corporatization, and civil service reform under the Thatcher administration. Public Administration, 100(2), 193–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, C., Tweedie, J., Andrew, J., & Baker, M. (2023). The new corporate state: The meshing of corporate and political power and the erosion of Democratic accountability in the UK. Financial Accountability & Management, 39(2), 268–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cordelli, C. (2020). The privatized state. The privatized state: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Criado, J. I., Dias, T. F., Sano, H., Rojas-Martín, F., Silvan, A., & Filho, A. I. (2021). Public innovation and living labs in action: A comparative analysis in post-new public management contexts. International Journal of Public Administration, 44(6), 451–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daidone, S., & D’Amico, F. (2009). Technical efficiency, specialization and ownership form: Evidences from a pooling of Italian hospitals. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 32, 203–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Datta, P. (2020). Digital transformation of the Italian public administration: A case study. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 46(1), 11.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Foor, J., Leclercq, P., Van Den Bulcke, J., & Pirson, M. (2017). Impact Des patients «bed blockers» sur les coûts hospitaliers et évaluation des obstacles à La sortie, étude prospective Au Sein De Quatre hôpitaux belges. Journal De Gestion et d’économie Médicales, 35(4), 179–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Maillard, J., & Skogan, W. G. (2020). Policing in France (pp. 1–18). Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deleuze, G. (2018). Les sociétés de contrôle. EcoRev’, 46, 5–12. https://doi.org/10.3917/ecorev.046.0005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donina, D., & Paleari, S. (2019). New public management: Global reform script or conceptual stretching? Analysis of university governance structures in the napoleonic administrative tradition. Higher Education, 78(2), 193–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doyle, A. M. (2023). Twenty years on–what can PISA tell us about educational inequality in France and England?. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 53(4), 603–17.

  • Dubois, V. (2016). The bureaucrat and the poor: Encounters in French welfare offices. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Durovic, A. (2019). The French elections of 2017: Shaking the Disease? West European Politics, 42(7), 1487–1503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elliott, I. C., Bottom, K. A., Carmichael, P., Liddle, J., Martin, S., & Pyper, R. (2022). The fragmentation of public administration: Differentiated and decentered governance in the (dis) United Kingdom. Public Administration, 100(1), 98–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Federico, T., & Renata, L. (2019). The silent transformations of health policy in Italy and the catalytic effect of the Great Financial Crisis. Stato E Mercato, 2, 297–320.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrè, F., Cuccurullo, C., & Lega, F. (2012). The challenge and the future of health care turnaround plans: Evidence from the Italian experience. Health Policy, 106(1), 3–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fresneda Fuentes, M. S., Alvarado, R., & Pascual, C. (2021). De-agentification process in Spanish Regional governments. Hacienda Pública Española, 236, 39–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Furusten, S. (2013). Commercialized professionalism on the field of management consulting. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 26(2), 265–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gane, N. (2012). Max Weber and contemporary Capitalism. Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia, R. T. (2020). Municipal deconcentration in Spain: The comparative cases of Madrid and Barcelona. Barataria Revista Castellano-Manchega De Ciencias Sociales, 28, 77–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giordano, R., & Tommasino, P. (2013). Public-sector efficiency and political culture. FinanzArchiv/Public Finance Analysis, pp. 289–316.

  • Graves, P. (2021). New development: Effective public sector performance—the reform cycle continues. Public Money & Management, 41(5), 412–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grimaldi, A. (2018). Faut-Il financer la qualité des soins et adopter le «pay for performance»(P4P) des anglo-saxons? Médecine Des Maladies Métaboliques, 12(3), 284–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guigner, S. (2013). Gouverner par la comparaison: Usages et mésusages des comparaisons internationales des systèmes de santé. Quaderni Communication Technologies pouvoir, 82, 27–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassenteufel, P., & Genieys, W. (2021). The programmatic action framework: An empirical assessment. European Policy Analysis, 7, 28–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassenteufel, P., Schweyer, F. X., Gerlinger, T., Henkel, R., Lückenbach, C., & Reiter, R. (2020). The role of professional groups in policy change: Physician’s organizations and the issue of local medical provision shortages in France and Germany. European Policy Analysis, 6(1), 38–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassenteufel, P., Smyrl, M., Genieys, W., & Moreno-Fuentes, F. J. (2010). Programmatic actors and the transformation of European health care states. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 35(4), 517–538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hastings, G. (2012). Why corporate power is a public health priority. BMJ 345:e5124. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e5124

  • Hodgson, D. E., Bailey, S., Exworthy, M., Bresnen, M., Hassard, J., & Hyde, P. (2022). On the character of the new entrepreneurial National Health Service in England: Reforming health care from within? Public Administration, 100(2), 338–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hussey, P. S., Luft, H. S., & McNamara, P. (2014). Public reporting of provider performance at a crossroads in the United States: Summary of current barriers and recommendations on how to move forward. Medical Care Research and Review, 71(5_suppl), 5S-16S.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IGF (2012). General Inspectorate of Finance / Inspection Générale des Finances (IGF) n°2011-M-044-01 relatif à l’Etat et ses Agences – Mars (2012). 01/03/2012.

  • Iliffe, S., & Manthorpe, J. (2021). Medical consumerism in the UK, from ‘citizen’s challenge’to the ‘managed consumer’—A symbol without meaning? Health Expectations, 24(2), 182–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, S. D. (2018). Grave new world: The end of globalization, the return of history. Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirste, S. (2021). The German tradition of legal positivism. The Cambridge Companion to Legal Positivism (pp. 105–132). Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Krachler, N., Greer, I., & Umney, C. (2022). Can public healthcare afford marketization? Market principles, mechanisms, and effects in five health systems. Public Administration Review, 82(5), 876–886.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lachkhem, Y., Minvielle, É., & Rican, S. (2018). Geographic variations of stroke hospitalization across France: a diachronic cluster analysis. Stroke Research and Treatment, Jul 18; 2018.

  • Lægreid, P., & Mattei, P. (2013). Introduction: Reforming the welfare state and the implications for accountability in a comparative perspective. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 79(2), 197–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lang, T., & Rayner, G. (2012). Ecological public health: the 21st century’s big idea? An essay by Tim Lang and Geof Rayner. BMJ 345:e5466. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e5466

  • Lapsley, I. (2022). Debate: Politicians’ use of accounting information—the myth of rationality. Public Money & Management, 42(3), 140–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lapsley, I., & Segato, F. (2019). Citizens, technology and the NPM movement. Public Money & Management, 39(8), 553–559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Goff, J. P. (2021). La société malade: Comment la pandémie nous affecte. Stock Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lebigot, C. (1999). Le détachement dans la fonction publique (Doctoral dissertation, Paris 13).

  • Löfgren, K., Darrah-Morgan, B., Hall, P., & Alamaa, L. (2022). The rise of a New Public Bureaucracy in New Zealand? Administration & Society, 54(1), 57–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maran, L., & Lowe, A. (2022). Competing logics in a hybrid organization: ICT service provision in the Italian health care sector. Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal, 35(3), 770–800.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marchand, B. (2021). Regrou** Communes: Perception of Spatial Organisation in South-East France. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03223218/. Accessed 20 June 2012.

  • Marín, M. A. F. V. (2021). Strategies for Digital Transformation of the Public Acquisitions Systems: Lean and Agile Management to avoid Waste and Corruption. Handbook of research on management and strategies for Digital Enterprise Transformation (pp. 296–317). IGI Global.

  • Marmot, M. (2005). Social determinants of health inequalities. The Lancet, 365(9464), 1099–1104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martini, G., Scotti, D., Viola, D., & Vittadini, G. (2020). Persistent and temporary inefficiency in airport cost function: An application to Italy. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 132, 999–1019.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mascia, D., Vincenzo, F. D., & Cicchetti, A. (2012). Dynamic analysis of interhospital collaboration and competition: Empirical evidence from an Italian regional health system. Health Policy, 105, 273–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masquelier, C. (2021). Theorising French Neoliberalism: The technocratic elite, decentralised collective bargaining and France’s ‘passive Neoliberal revolution.’ European Journal of Social Theory, 24(1), 65–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mattei, P. (2009). Restructuring welfare organizations in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mauro, M., & Giancotti, M. (2021). Italian responses to the COVID-19 emergency: Overthrowing 30 years of health reforms? Health Policy, 125(4), 548–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mauro, S. G., Cinquini, L., & Pianezzi, D. (2021). New Public Management between reality and illusion: Analysing the validity of performance-based budgeting. The British Accounting Review, 53(6), 100825.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mercille, J., & O’Neill, N. (2021). The growth of private home care providers in Europe: The case of Ireland. Social Policy & Administration, 55(4), 606–621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mills, C. W., & Wolfe, A. (2000). The power elite (Vol. 20). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner, S. (2017). Emmanuel Macron and the building of a new liberal-centrist movement. LSE European Politics and Policy (EUROPP) Blog.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mouzon, C. (2022). En finir avec les déserts médicaux. Alternatives Economiques, 2(2), 26–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muller, J. Z. (2019). The tyranny of metrics. The tyranny of Metrics: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Muzio, D., Hodgson, D., Faulconbridge, J., Beaverstock, J., & Hall, S. (2011). Towards corporate professionalization: The case of project management, management consultancy and executive search. Current Sociology, 59(4), 443–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Navarro, V. (2020). The consequences of Neoliberalism in the current pandemic. International Journal of Health Services, 50(3), 271–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ocqueteau, F. (2020). The expansion of private policing in France. Policing in France (pp. 133–146). Routledge.

  • Overeem, P., & Tholen, B. (2011). After managerialism: MacIntyre’s lessons for the study of public administration. Administration & Society, 43(7), 722–748.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paché, G. (2021). Facing the COVID-19 pandemic in France: From Managerialism to Business Logistics. Population Health Management, 24(2), 158–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palier, B. (2006). The long good bye to Bismarck? Changes in the French welfare state. In P. D. Culpepper, P. A. Hall, & B. Palier (Eds.), Changing France: Changes that markets make (pp. 107–128). Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paton, C. (2022). The cost of the market. NHS Reform and Health Politics in the UK (pp. 67–77). Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Pelletier, A. S. (2019). EHPAD, une honte française. Plon.

  • Pierre, J. (2009). Thematic review: Reinventing governance, reinventing Democracy? Policy & Politics, 37(4), 591–609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pierru, F. (2009). Les Clercs Du génie Patronal: La légitimation experte de la réforme de l’assurance maladie. Savoir/Agir, 4, 53–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pierru, F. (2012). Le mandarin, le gestionnaire et le consultant. Actes de la recherche en Sciences Sociales, 4, 32–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rathgeb, P., & Wolkenstein, F. (2017). Third-way à la française: what do Macron’s reforms involve, and how likely are they to succeed? LSE European Politics and Policy (EUROPP) Blog.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricciardi, W., & Tarricone, R. (2021). The evolution of the Italian National Health Service. The Lancet, 398(10317), 2193–2206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rock, E. (2020). Measuring accountability in Public Governance regimes. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rouban, L. (2010). L’inspection générale des Finances, 1958–2008: pantouflage et renouveau des stratégies élitaires. Sociologies Pratiques, 2, 19–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz-Mallorquí, M. V., Aguiar-Díaz, I., & Valcarcel, G. L. (2021). Arrangements with the NHS for providing healthcare services: Do they improve financial performance of private for-profit hospitals in Spain? Health Economics Review, 11(1), 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schreyögg, J. (2019). Changes in hospital financing and organization and their impact on hospital performance. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Economics and Finance.

  • Seabrooke, L., & Sending, O. J. (2022). Consultancies in public administration. Public Administration, 100(3), 457–471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Senellart, M., & Burchell, G. (2008). The birth of biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège De France, 1978–1979. Picador, 346.

  • Sutherland (2007). Irrationality. Pinter and Martin. 258 pages.

  • Talbot, C., & Johnson, C. (2007). Seasonal cycles in public management: Disaggregation and re-aggregation. Public Money and Management, 27(1), 53–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thévenot, L. (2019). Measure for measure. Historical Social Research/Historische Sozialforschung, 44(168), 44–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiberj, V. (2021). How France participates? The impact of generational renewal on political participation (1981–2018). French Politics, 19(2–3), 139–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torre, A., & Bourdin, S. (2023). The French territorial reform of the regions: Objectives, risks and challenges for some forgotten territories. International Journal of Public Administration, 46(11), 761–772.

  • Varvasovszky, Z., & Brugha, R. (2000). A stakeholder analysis. Health Policy and Planning, 15(3), 338–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vauchez, A., & France, P. (2021). The Neoliberal Republic. The Neoliberal Republic. Cornell University Press.

  • Vezinat, N. (2019). Pourquoi l’hôpital n’est pas une entreprise. La vie des idées.

  • Wegrich, K. (2021). Is the turtle still plodding along? Public management reform in Germany. Public Management Review, 23(8), 1107–1116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolff, E. N. (2021). The declining wealth of the Middle Class, 1983–2016. Contemporary Economic Policy, 39(3), 461–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yordanov, Y., Chouihed, T., Riou, B., & Boursin, P. (2020). Task shifting and emergency nurse practitioners–are nurses the future of emergency medicine? The French experience. European Journal of Emergency Medicine, 27(1), 9–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

No funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management & Geospatial Analysis Center, American University of Sharjah, PO Box 26666, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

    Daniel Simonet

Authors
  1. Daniel Simonet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Simonet.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

Not needed / None.  

Informed Consent

Not application.

Conflict of Interest

None. 

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Simonet, D. Corporate Management Recipes in the Reform of the French Health Care System. Public Organiz Rev (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-023-00757-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-023-00757-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation