Assessing health system performance in developing countries: a review of the literature

With the setting of ambitious international health goals and an influx of additional development assistance for health, there is growing interest in assessing the performance of health systems in developing countries. This paper proposes a framework for the assessment of health system performance and reviews the literature on indicators currently in use to measure performance using online medical and public health databases. This was complemented by a review of relevant books and reports in the grey literature. The indicators were organized into three categories: effectiveness, equity, and efficiency. Measures of health system effectiveness were improvement in health status, access to and quality of care and, increasingly, patient satisfaction. Measures of equity included access and quality of care for disadvantaged groups together with fair financing, risk protection and accountability. Measures of efficiency were appropriate levels of funding, the cost-effectiveness of interventions, and effective administration. This framework and review of indicators may be helpful to health policy makers interested in assessing the effects of different policies, expenditures, and organizational structures on health outputs and outcomes in developing countries.     

Health insurance reform in Vietnam: a review of recent developments and future challenges

Vietnam is undertaking health financing reform with a view to achieve universal coverage of health insurance within the coming years. To date, around half of the population is covered with some type of health insurance or prepayment. This review applies a conceptual framework of health financing to provide a coherent assessment of the reforms to date with respect to a set of key policy objectives of health financing, including financial sustainability, efficiency in service provision, and equity in health financing. Based on the assessment, the review discusses the main implications of the reforms focusing on achievements and remaining challenges, the nature of the Vietnamese reforms in an international perspective, and the role of the government. The main lessons from the Vietnamese experiences, from which other reforming countries may draw, are the need for sustained resource mobilization, comprehensive reform involving all functions of the health financing system, and to adopt a long-term view of health insurance reform. Future analysis should include continued evaluation of the reforms in terms of impacts on key outcomes and the political dimensions of health reform.     

Health care financing in Asia: key issues and challenges

This article examines the major elements of health care financing such as financial risk protection, resource generation, resource pooling, and purchasing and payment; provides key lessons; and discusses the challenges for health care financing systems of Asian countries. With the exception of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, most health care systems of Asia provide very limited financial risk protection. The role of public prepaid schemes such as tax and social health insurance is minimal, and out-of-pocket payment is a major source of financing. The large informal sector is a major challenge to the extension of population coverage in many low-income countries of Asia, which must seek the optimal mix of tax subsidy and health insurance for universal coverage. Implementation of effective payment systems to control the behavior of health care providers is also a key factor in the success of health care financing reform in Asia.     

Strengthening institutional and organizational capacity for social health protection of the informal sector in lesser-developed countries: A study of policy barriers and opportunities in Cambodia

Reaching out to the poor and the informal sector is a major challenge for achieving universal coverage in lesser-developed countries. In Cambodia, extensive coverage by health equity funds for the poor has created the opportunity to consolidate various non-government health financing schemes under the government's proposed social health protection structure. This paper identifies the main policy and operational challenges to strengthening existing arrangements for the poor and the informal sector, and considers policy options to address these barriers. Conducted in conjunction with the Cambodian Ministry of Health in 2011–12, the study reviewed policy documents and collected qualitative data through 18 semi-structured key informant interviews with government, non-government and donor officials. Data were analysed using the Organizational Assessment for Improving and Strengthening Health Financing conceptual framework. We found that a significant shortfall related to institutional, organisational and health financing issues resulted in fragmentation and constrained the implementation of social health protection schemes, including health equity funds, community-based health insurance, vouchers and others. Key documents proposed the establishment of a national structure for the unification of the informal-sector schemes but left unresolved issues related to structure, institutional capacity and the third-party status of the national agency. This study adds to the evidence base on appropriate and effective institutional and organizational arrangements for social health protection in the informal sector in developing countries. Among the key lessons are: the need to expand the fiscal space for health care; a commitment to equity; specific measures to protect the poor; building national capacity for administration of universal coverage; and working within the specific national context.     

Community-based health insurance in low-income countries: a systematic review of the evidence

Health policy makers are faced with competing alternatives, and for systems of health care financing. The choice of financing method should mobilize resources for health care and provide financial protection. This review systematically assesses the evidence of the extent to which community-based health insurance is a viable option for low-income countries in mobilizing resources and providing financial protection. The review contributes to the literature on health financing by extending and qualifying existing knowledge. Overall, the evidence base is limited in scope and questionable in quality. There is strong evidence that community-based health insurance provides some financial protection by reducing out-of-pocket spending. There is evidence of moderate strength that such schemes improve cost-recovery. There is weak or no evidence that schemes have an effect on the quality of care or the efficiency with which care is produced. In absolute terms, the effects are small and schemes serve only a limited section of the population. The main policy implication of the review is that these types of community financing arrangements are, at best, complementary to other more effective systems of health financing. To improve reliability and validity of the evidence base, analysts should agree on a more coherent set of outcome indicators and a more consistent assessment of these indicators. Policy makers need to be better informed as to both the costs and the benefits of implementing various financing options. The current evidence base on community-based health insurance is mute on this point.     

非营利性医院融资现状、关键因素与政策支撑体系研究

文章在分析我国非营利性医院各种融资方式现状的基础上,对影响融资的关键因素进行了识别,包括非营利性医院产权归属、补偿机制、规模与区域卫生规划三个方面,并从管理模式、治理结构、财政补偿、医疗保险制度、卫生资源配置和社会筹资等方面．构建了促进非营利性医院融资的政策支撑体系。     

社会医疗保险制度下的政策抉择

社会基疗保险是许多国家的卫生筹资形式，政策目标不仅体现在社会医疗保险的系统结构中，更重要的是体现在社会医疗实际运行中的政策抉择中，这些政策抉择集中反映了筹资强度，保险覆盖范围与优先项目，费用控制及服务提供的效率改善等相互联系的4个方面。     

积极生育支持背景下不孕不育医疗保障政策国际比较研究

本文基于全民健康覆盖框架,从人群覆盖广度、服务覆盖宽度和费用覆盖深度三个维度,比较了12个国家的不孕不育医疗保障政策异同与效果。为全面构建积极生育支持体系,应针对我国不孕不育高发、医疗费用高昂的社会人口问题,借鉴国际经验,完善不孕不育医疗保障顶层设计,构建多层次保障体系;明确覆盖患者的纳入标准;动态调整医疗服务清单;综合考虑政策目标、筹资能力和患者需求等因素科学制定适宜费用保障标准。多元协同为不孕不育患者提供充分的经济支持,推动实现适度的生育水平。     

社会资本举办民营医疗机构的困境与对策——以浙江省温州市为例

在总结温州市鼓励社会资本办医政策的基础上,对温州社会资本办医现状进行调查后发现,社会资本办医在项目落地、医保定点、奖补基金兑现、融资、机构待遇、人才队伍建设、管理和社会美誉度等方面仍面临着诸多困难。进一步推进社会办医还需从政策落实、配套改革、融资及人才扶持和强化监管等方面全面推进。     

Comparing health policy agendas across eleven high income countries: islands of difference in a sea of similarity

Does the way in which health systems are financed influence whether health policymakers are more or less interested in accessible and equitable health services? Are social democratic governments more interested in primary health care reform than conservative governments? Have particular domains of health policy really become more important over the past decade across a range of countries? In this exploratory article, we investigate the similarities and differences in patterns of attention in health policy in eleven high income countries using data from the Health Policy Monitor database from 2003 to 2010. Our study suggests significant 'islands of difference' in an overall 'sea of similarity' between the health policy agendas of the selected countries. The key findings are: (i) that improving population health outcomes is more likely to be on the agenda under tax-based systems and when centre-left parties are dominant in government; (ii) health systems funded through social insurance are more preoccupied with efficiency and cost-containment than tax-funded systems; (iii) the political complexion of governments is not a major factor shaping health policy agendas; and (iv) since 2003 there has been an increasing interest in initiatives that address public health concerns, access and equity, and population health outcomes.     

Establishing health systems financing research priorities in developing countries using a participatory methodology

Donor funding for health systems financing (HSF) research is inadequate and often poorly aligned with national priorities. This study aimed to generate consensus about a core set of research issues that urgently require attention in order to facilitate policy development. There were three key inputs into the priority setting process: key-informant interviews with health policy makers, researchers, community and civil society representatives across twenty-four low- and middle-income countries in four regions; an overview of relevant reviews to identify research completed to date; and inputs from 12 key informants (largely researchers) at a consultative workshop.     

Removing user fees for health services in low-income countries: a multi-country review framework for assessing the process of policy change

Several authors have stressed the fact that many policy reforms fail because of poor formulation or implementation. On the other hand, the health financing literature provides little guidance to policy makers in low-income countries on how to implement a health care financing reform in ways that enhance its chance of achieving policy objectives, even less so for a user fee removal reform. This paper presents the framework used for a multi-country review of the policy process of removing user fees in six sub-Saharan African countries. The review aimed at developing operational guidance for health managers involved in user fee removal reform. Drawing broadly on Walt and Gilson's 'health policy analysis triangle' (context-actor-process-content), we focused particularly on understanding the process of planning and implementing the reform led by central-level policy actors. Our core analytic strategy was the verification of a list of 'good practice hypotheses' that might be expected in a health financing policy reform against experience. This framework offers an approach for how to analyse health financing policy reform processes in low-income countries. It allows for an explicit and transparent review of multiple experiences against a set of clear hypotheses. This approach might be a step in the direction of research that supports better formulation and implementation of policies in resource-poor settings.     

Financing health care in Egypt: current issues and options for reform

Aim The Government of Egypt has embarked on a process of reforming health care financing in the country. Under the influence of external advisers it, has so far focused on social health insurance as the main funding mechanism. Other options, in particular tax-based financing, have hardly been considered. In this article, social health insurance and taxation-based financing are analysed on their ability to meet Egypt's stated health policy goals and their viability. Subjects and methods Review of current health care financing arrangements in Egypt, of potential areas for improvement, and of stated health policy goals. Analysis of social health insurance and taxation-based financing on their ability to meet the stated policy goals and their viability. Results Although both funding mechanisms have distinct advantages and disadvantages when applied to the Egyptian health system, tax-based financing seems better able to meet the official policy goals of the Government of Egypt than social health insurance on grounds of efficiency, equity and technical feasibility. Conclusions The Government of Egypt will have to raise public health expenditure substantially to finance care at an adequate level. Expanding and refining the present tax-based financing scheme, rather than switching to an insurance-based scheme seems the technically superior strategy. Other measures to improve the coordination of financing, such as the creation of a single fundholding agency, are needed as well as tighter regulation of private providers and the pharmaceutical market.     

Health policy in the Baltic countries since the beginning of the 1990s

The objective of this article is to compare the development of health policies in three Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the period from 1992 to 2004 and reflect on whether key dimensions of these policies are developing in parallel, diverging or even converging in some respects. The paper identifies the similarity in the overall goals and compares the policy content in primary health care, the hospital sector and financing. We conclude that health policy in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania has been progressing in parallel towards a Western European social insurance funding model, developing a primary care system anchored on a general practitioner service and lessening the hospital orientation of the pre-1990s system. There is evidence of both convergence and divergence across the three countries and of progress in the direction of EU15 in key health policy and outcome characteristics. These patterns are explained partly by differing starting points and partly by political and economic factors over the 1992-2004 period.     

A baseline survey of the Primary Healthcare system in south eastern Nigeria

A baseline survey to audit the PHC operations and determine community perception and expectations of PHC service delivery was conducted in 72 communities in Enugu state, southeastern Nigeria. The study was intended to facilitate the development of intermediate performance indicators for monitoring the progress of an ongoing health sector reform and to gather baseline data for planning and policy formulation. The tools used for the operations audit assessed indicators for evaluating: (a) Stewardship, (b) Service Provision and (c) Administrative and financial management; while the community survey was assessed by, (a) utilization of health services, (b) perception of service delivery and (c) health care financing. One hundred and sixteen respondents from each of the facilities in the sample frame were interviewed using a structured self-assessment questionnaire and a qualitative assessment was undertaken in 53 of the facilities using an audit guide. Focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted with the policy makers and planners in each of the 17 LGAs in the state. A total of 832 respondents were interviewed in the communities (using a structured questionnaire) and 42 community FGDs were conducted. The results indicate a lack of operational efficiency in the majority of the facilities audited. It was also observed that majority of the facilities do not provide all services required of it, are poorly maintained, do not have enough skilled health workers and operate without a budget. There appears to be no formal financial management system in place and no policy on financial resource generation. The community survey identified two major problems; low utilization of PHCs and poor service provision. The key indicator identified by the community for evaluating performance of the PHCs remains "access to essential drugs". The major prospect was the willingness of an appreciable number of respondents to invest in health financing through insurance schemes and payment of health tax among others. It was evident that poor funding, bad management practices and infrastructural decay is the bane of efficient PHC delivery. Consequently, we propose that cost determination studies, to establish the financial implication of the minimum package for provision of primary healthcare services, should be an essential prerequisite to the reform process. Some critical cross-cutting issues identified from the data obtained which could form the basis for major policy thrust include, development of strategies for sustainable promotion of public-private-partnership for enhanced community involvement in healthcare management, ensuring that interventional investment is proportional to the felt health needs of the populace and funding of healthcare through equitable integration of user fees/charges.     

卫生立法的国际经验对我国的启示

本文通过分析典型国家卫生立法的现状和发展的共同点,结合我国政治、社会和经济环境,对我国《基本卫生法》立法提出政策建议。多数工业化国家都有一个相同的价值观,即政府确保公民不受地域和经济能力的限制享有卫生服务。各国卫生立法都经历了与政治发展同步的数次改革。几乎每一个以公共筹资体系为主的国家,都同时存在商业医疗保险和私人医疗服务,但医疗卫生服务体系很少以市场为主导。所有国家都在向建立整合的协同医疗服务体系方向努力,并已建立了与经济发展和国民收入相适应的、长期稳定的卫生筹资模式。作为卫生领域的根本法,《基本卫生法》应以更宏观的视角对卫生和健康问题的基本定位、基本价值和基本框架进行定位,突出"无论公民的性别、年龄、宗教、社会地位和经济状况,政府都有责任确保其获得基本医疗卫生服务和基本药物"的核心价值观。     

The role of institutional design and organizational practice for health financing performance and universal coverage

Many low- and middle income countries heavily rely on out-of-pocket health care expenditure. The challenge for these countries is how to modify their health financing system in order to achieve universal coverage. This paper proposes an analytical framework for undertaking a systematic review of a health financing system and its performance on the basis of which to identify adequate changes to enhance the move towards universal coverage. The distinctive characteristic of this framework is the focus on institutional design and organizational practice of health financing, on which health financing performance is contingent. Institutional design is understood as formal rules, namely legal and regulatory provisions relating to health financing; organizational practice refers to the way organizational actors implement and comply with these rules. Health financing performance is operationalized into nine generic health financing performance indicators. Inadequate performance can be caused by six types of bottlenecks in institutional design and organizational practice. Accordingly, six types of improvement measures are proposed to address these bottlenecks. The institutional design and organizational practice of a health financing system can be actively developed, modified or strengthened. By understanding the incentive environment within a health financing system, the potential impacts of the proposed changes can be anticipated.     

Thirty years of national health insurance in South Korea: lessons for achieving universal health care coverage

South Korea introduced mandatory social health insurance forindustrial workers in large corporations in 1977, and extendedit incrementally to the self-employed until it covered the entirepopulation in 1989. Thirty years of national health insurancein Korea can provide valuable lessons on key issues in healthcare financing policy which now face many low- and middle-incomecountries aiming to achieve universal health care coverage,such as: tax versus social health insurance; population andbenefit coverage; single scheme versus multiple schemes; purchasingand provider payment method; and the role of politics and politicalcommitment. National health insurance in Korea has been successfulin mobilizing resources for health care, rapidly extending populationcoverage, effectively pooling public and private resources topurchase health care for the entire population, and containinghealth care expenditure. However, there are also challengesposed by the dominance of private providers paid by fee-for-service,the rapid aging of the population, and the public-private mixrelated to private health insurance.     

Analysing equity in health care financing: A flow of funds approach

There are concerns that existing methods for analysing equity in Irish health care financing, based on progressivity index measures, are not adequately capturing patterns of inequity that occur in practice. This paper follows a new direction in the literature whereby equity in health care financing and delivery are analysed together. A flow of funds for Irish health care resources is developed and applied to data for 2004. The framework traces the flow of public and private health resources from individuals to financial intermediaries, from there to health care providers and functions, and from there to individuals. Individuals are categorised by health care entitlement status. Findings indicate that broad progressive patterns in aggregate resource flows hide less equitable patterns that require further attention and there are complex interactions between public and private resources. The flow of funds approach complements existing analytic methods and generates policy lessons for Irish and international policy makers.