Hospital strategy and regional planning in France

Cost containment policy in health implies changes in hospital management and regional planning. There is a movement in France towards the strategic management of hospitals and towards a new way of planning. That calls for new models and the paper presents, as an example, regional arrangements of neonatal care. Hospital managers and local authorities set up a model and an information system to allow the best way possible for involving hospitals in the building of a regional scheme, leading to the negotiation of contracts. This experiment is conducted by the National School of Public Health with the aim of gaining experience in bringing together professionals and teachers, doing research and producing materials for management development.