Summary: “Governments must make their health care systems more efficient if they are to maintain quality of care without putting further stress on public finances, according to a new OECD report. In Health Care Systems: Efficiency and Policy Settings, the OECD warns that cash-strapped governments no longer have the option of boosting spending to improve health outcomes, as they have done over the past several decades. The OECD report recognises that the sharp rise in health care spending – which has grown by more than 70% per capita in real terms since the early-1990s – led to steady improvements in health outcomes across the OECD. Life expectancy has increased by one year every four years, survival rates from diseases like cancer are up, and premature births and infant mortality have dropped dramatically. However, cross-country comparative analysis highlights the uneven health care efficiency performance across the OECD countries.”