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The Health and Social Care Bill proposes clinically led commissioning. The new Clinical Commissioning Groups will become statutory bodies and replace the old primary care trusts. This primary legislation will transfer accountability for health care spending to clinicians who will have a duty to meet the health needs of a population as well as balance a budget. This change gives rise to a number of ethical issues which are explored in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greece has enacted three major health care reforms since the National Health System (NHS) was established in 1983. These reforms were designed to improve the system's ability to realize its founding principles of equity and efficiency in the delivery and financing of health services. This article presents an early report of ongoing doctoral research that aims to examine the relative influence of medical professional organizations versus other interests on these reforms. The article outlines three theoretical frameworks for understanding the health care system and the role of the medical profession within it in order to establish which best explains the nature and extent of health care reform. These frameworks are: sociological theories of professions; historical institutionalism; and structural interest theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]