In 2003, Turkey initiated a ten-year outcome-oriented Health Transformation Program (HTP). The two main ideals at the basis of this program are “Health Comes First” and “Equity in Health and Health Service Delivery”, both of which promote the ultimate purpose of improving public health. The Ministry of Health implemented simultaneous reforms on both the demand and supply side, while also introducing new government regulations and health-service-area planning practices. The overall capacity of the health system has increased remarkably, and universal health coverage and more equal access to health care has been achieved. The government chose to utilize market mechanisms more on delivery side of the health system while strengthening the single public purchasing mechanism, the Social Security Institution (SSI), on financing side. After the reforms, citizens were allowed to receive health services from private hospitals through their public insurance by paying limited extra billings. Private hospitals have been increasingly involved in health care delivery. A surge happened in the number of private hospitals nationwide with the completion of the transformation program. This paper, first, presents a circumscribed description of the HTP; followed by the analysis of the rise of the public-private mixed sector in the delivery of healthcare and enhancement of geographic equity in access to healthcare. The successful implementation of the program provides potential public policy lessons about how to achieve an overall improvement in a health care system by including all health-related sources of the country within the system while also implementing significant government regulation and planning practices.

Keywords: Health Systems and Health Care Reform Across the Globe