OECD with Eurostat, WHO publishes manual on accounting practices for health service spending

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) "is urging all countries to meet a global standard in the way they account for their health service spending," BMJ reports, adding, "In October the OECD, in collaboration with Eurostat (the European Commission's statistics directorate general) and the World Health Organization, published what it describes as a 'monster of a manual' called A System of Health Accounts. It provides detailed guidelines to help countries develop better accounts that policymakers can use to quickly extract useful data" (Arie, 11/1).