HiT reviews

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© European Observatory

The Berlin hub of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies is responsible for producing Health System in Transition (HIT reviews) of the central and eastern European countries. These countries include Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, as well as the Baltic States Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

HiTs are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of each health care system and of reform and policy initiatives in progress or under development. Each report is produced by country experts in collaboration with the Observatory's research directors and staff. In order to facilitate comparisons between countries, the reports are based on a template, which is revised periodically. Before the reports are published, they are externally reviewed by independent experts.

HiT reviews seek to provide relevant information to support policy-makers and analysts in the development of health systems in Europe. They are building blocks that can be used:

• to learn in detail about different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services and the role of the main actors in health systems;
• to describe the institutional framework, the process, content and implementation of health care reform programmes;
• to highlight challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis; and
• to provide a tool for the dissemination of information on health systems. They are conducive for the exchange of experiences of reform strategies between policy-makers and analysts in different countries.

For more information, please visit www.healthobservatory.eu [2].

Working on HiTs for the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies: process, template and working with authors (Ewout van Ginneken) [3]