Reports

This book presents a comprehensive review of health care quality in the Czech Republic. It finds that over the past 20 years, the Czech Republic witnessed the unprecedented gains in quality of health care and life expectancy and successfully transferred its Semaschko system into the modern accessible health care system with private-public mix of providers. Nevertheless the health care system in the Czech Republic still has some way to go to achieve the outcomes of the best performing OECD members. While some of the gap might be caused by the one of the lowest levels of health care expenditures among OECD countries (7.2% GDP in 2011) there are possibilities to improve the outcomes without incurring much of the additional costs. The Czech authorities should reach a consensus on the development of quality of care and data infrastructure and aim for sustainable long-term initiatives undisturbed by the political cycles in both of these areas. While the adverse events reporting and voluntary accreditation are the good steps towards the accountability of the providers, the government should do more in this area, undertake the effort to broaden the accreditation process and include outpatient care and link public health authorities to the quality agenda of inpatient care. In the area of data infrastructure more data should be gathered, the process of data gathering should be streamlined and administrative burden for the providers lowered primarily via the merging the data-collecting agencies. Finally, without the active participation of health insurance funds and proper reimbursement mechanisms in place the quality agenda will not be perceived as the priority.

This review looks at a range of institutions and bodies involved in employment and skills policies in the Czech Republic, focusing on local strategies on the Ústí nad Labem and South Moravian regions.

Governments are major issuers of debt instruments in the global financial market. This volume provides quantitative information on central government debt instruments for the 34 OECD member countries to meet the analytical requirements of users such as policy makers, debt management experts and market analysts.  Statistics are presented according to a comprehensive standard framework to allow cross-country comparison.  Country methodological notes provide information on debt issuance in each country as well as on the institutional and regulatory framework governing debt management policy and selling techniques.

Trends in bank profitability and factors affecting it are major indicators of changes in the state of health of national banking systems. This publication provides nationally aggregated financial statements of banks data for OECD member countries. The coverage of banks is not the same in each country, though the objective is to include all institutions that conduct ordinary banking business, namely institutions which primarily take deposits from the public at large and provide finance for a wide range of purposes. Some information on the number of reporting banks, their branches and staff is also included, as well as structural information regarding the whole financial sector. Moreover, ratios, based on various items of the financial statements of banks in percentage of some specific aggregates, are supplied to facilitate the analysis of trends in bank profitability of OECD countries. Times series available vary according to country, but generally the last five years of available data are shown.

This OECD publication provides statistics on international trade in services by partner country for 28 OECD countries plus the European Union (EU27), the Euro area, and Hong Kong, China as well as definitions and methodological notes. The data concern trade between residents and non-residents of countries and are reported within the framework of the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services. This book includes summary tables of trade patterns listing the main trading partners for each country and by broad service category. Series are shown in US dollars and cover the period 2004-2008.

The International Energy Agency's 2010 review of the Czech Republic's energy policies and programmes. It analyses the energy challenges facing the Czech Republic and provides sectoral critiques and recommendations for further policy improvements. It is intended to help guide the country towards a more secure and sustainable energy future. It finds that the Czech Republic, rich in coal resources, is the third-largest electricity exporter in the European Union. The energy sector plays an important role for the country’s economy and for the regional energy security. Since the last IEA in-depth review in 2005, the Czech Republic has strengthened its energy policy, further liberalised its electricity and gas markets and made laudable efforts to enhance oil and gas security. The Czech government has a unique opportunity to develop coherent and balanced energy and climate strategies as it currently updates its policy documents. The draft State Energy Concept concentrates on energy security and on maintaining the Czech Republic as a net electricity exporter, through a diversified energy mix and a maximised use of indigenous resources, comprising coal, uranium and renewable energy. While the focus on energy security is praiseworthy, energy policy could be further improved. Energy policy should be better integrated with climate change considerations. At the same time, economic efficiency should be another key pillar of energy policy. To improve its energy security while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing economic development, the Czech Republic could take measures to: improve energy efficiency and broaden demand-side measures; focus on low-carbon technologies; integrate electricity and natural gas markets regionally; and optimise needed new infrastructure.