Every healthcare system around the world is going through constant transformation and adapt to the changes experienced in our societies. It is then our duty as healthcare professionals to generate new knowledge and transform it into action so that health services keep constantly improving. This document is a thematic review summarizing the recent theoretical foundations of healthcare systems and analyzes three proposals for improvement moving forward: from the perspective of PricewaterhouseCoopers as a business benchmark, the 2015 World Economic Forum as a point of reference for multilateral agencies, and the T.H. Chan School of Public Health from Harvard University, as an academic reference. To conclude, the improvement LIST developed by Julio Frenk is discussed, together with its implications for innovation.