Surprisingly, at a time when Berwick,  the new appointed head of CMS (Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services) states that he greatly admires England’s National Health Service, England is going to decentralize theirs!

In a new surprising and radical move, Britain’s new coalition government has remarked that it will revamp their healthcare system which has been in place since 1948.  Although exact details have as yet to be disclosed, England plans to shift its $160 billion yearly health budget away from a centralized bureaucracy to physicians at the local level.  Family physicians will receive the money to buy services from hospitals and other healthcare providers.

By effecting this change, the government can save up to 45% in administrative costs.  A representative stated “Liberating the N.H.S. and putting power in the hands of patients and clinicians means we will be able to effect a radical simplification and remove layers of management.”

Andrew Lansley, the health secretary also vowed to empower the patients. Rather than decisions left to primary care trusts, the patients themselves will now be able to decide where they will receive their exams and treatments  which will also decrease the length of waits for their medical care.

Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, states “This is about clinicians taking responsibility for making these decisions.”. “It will be able to focus on what local people need”.

Until now “there were far too many bureaucratic hurdles to leap” in the system and “in many places, the communication between G.P.s and consultants in hospitals has become fragmented and distant” according to Dr. Richard Vautrey, depty chairman of the general practitioner committee at the British Medical Association.

The change facilitates the shift to privatization of healthcare. Isn’t it ironic that the system of care that We used to have, is the best one after all?!