ABSTRACT

This chapter addresses contemporary challenges facing modern healthcare systems and the ways in which the regulation and practices of health professionals must adapt and change to meet such demands. In many countries around the world, health systems are facing enormous, interrelated pressures. Escalating healthcare costs are a pressing concern. The increase in healthcare expenditures exceeds GDP growth in many nations (Pammolli et al . 2012 ) and is being driven by multiple factors, including aging populations and the growing burden of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, cancers and mental health conditions (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 2011 ; Rechel et al . 2013 ). The Lancet’s ‘Global Burden of Disease Study,’ published in 2012, underscored the major social and personal impacts of chronic, non-communicable diseases, pointing out that people are living more years with disability and disease. According to the World Economic Forum, the global fi nancial costs of the non-communicable disease burden will exceed US$30 trillion over the next twenty years (Bloom et al . 2011 ).