Monday, May 11, 2009

[EQ] WHO Call for Expressions of Interest Assessing efforts towards universal financial risk protection in low- and middle-income countries

Call for Expressions of Interest:
Assessing efforts towards universal financial risk protection in low- and middle-income countries

 

Issued: May 1st, 2009 

Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research and the Health Systems Financing Department, World Health Organization WHO

 

Deadline for submission of expressions of interest: June 30th, 2009

 

Websiste: http://www.who.int/alliance-hpsr/AllianceHPSR_CallUniversalCoverage.pdf

 

 

The Health Systems Financing (HSF) Department, at WHO, works in collaboration with regional and country offices of WHO to support countries seeking to strengthen their health financing systems.

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The Alliance HPSR and the HSF Department are eager to support in-depth country case studies identifying factors that have helped or hindered the expansion of universal financial risk protection in low and middle income country (LMIC) contexts.

 

We are interested in learning both from positive and negative experiences (i.e. both `successes´ and `failures´). This research programme of work will build on the interest and momentum generated by the World Health Report 2010, which will focus on Financing for Universal Coverage.

 

It is envisaged that the final product of this programme of country case-study work will be a book (or the special issue of a journal) encompassing all of the case-studies, and highlighting cross-cutting policy lessons and issues that are applicable beyond the case-study countries.

 

Establishing health system financing research priorities in developing countries using a participatory methodology.
Available at
http://www.who.int/alliance-hpsr/researchsynthesis/financing/en/

 

At this time, we have a total of US$500,000 to support the five to ten country case studies. Funding to each team will depend on the nature of the research proposed, its duration, and the budget justification. Depending upon the number of good proposals developed, additional funding may be made available in the future, or could be sought from other funding agencies.

 

Possible issues or themes of importance for investigation include, but are not limited to:

·          Political dynamics of change -- before a reform towards universal financial coverage can be initiated (or in order for it to be successful) governments need to have the political will to accept universal coverage as a long-term goal and government responsibility, and the capacity to exercise good stewardship (5, 6). In many ways, in terms of reform, the key issue is political and institutional – which risk pooling method is more acceptable to key stakeholders, more capable of being implemented (5).

 

Broader influences -- general social and economic influences, globalization.

 

• Policy mechanisms, legislation, institutional mechanisms -- Different countries have pursued quite different pathways towards universal financial coverage. In terms of financing source, a key choice facing countries on the transition path to universal coverage is between general tax funding or mandatory social (or private) insurance payments, or mixes of these. In addition, even in high income countries with universal coverage, user fees or copayments usually still exist to some degree, so countries face choices on whether or not to retain user fee elements, and what to charge for (5).

 

• Degree of fragmentation -- fragmentation refers to the existence of a large number of separate funding mechanisms (e.g. many small insurance schemes) and a wide range of health providers paid from different funding pools. Fragmentation reduces the scope for risk pooling in the health system (7). It is important to achieve as much integration of risk pooling mechanisms as possible in order to promote income and risk cross subsidies.

 

• Degree of subsidization -- In most low- and middle-income countries, the bulk of public health care resources are derived from taxes of various types. Tax-financed domestic financing would have to remain prominent, even when a country pursues universal health insurance (6). External donor funding may also be needed to supplement resources that can be raised domestically.

 

• Potential de-stabilizing effects of up-scaling -- For example, in setting where there is a shift in purchasing mechanisms, from direct public financing of public facilities, to "strategic purchasing" by a national health insurance body, it can create instability in health care sector, labour market, etc.

 

• Relative importance of initiatives in other sectors -- Success of universal coverage may depend on initiatives or policies that fall under the Ministry of Finance, Labour, Education, etc. Also, the importance of trade unions, civil society, the informal sector.

 

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMS Area]

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and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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[EQ] UK Tackling health inequalities: ten years on

From: The David McDaid LSE Health and Social Care

 

FYI – just published by the English Department of Health, 2009

 

 

Tackling Health Inequalities: ten years on.
A review of developments in tackling health inequalities in England over the last ten years

 

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_098936

 

“….This report reviews developments in health inequalities over the last 10 years across government - from the publication of the Acheson report on health inequalities in November 1998 to the announcement of the post-2010 strategic review of health inequalities in November 2008.  It covers developments across government on the wider social determinants of health, and the role of the NHS.  It provides an assessment of developments against the Acheson report, reviews a range of key data sets covering social, economic, health and environmental indicators, and considers lessons learned and challenges for the future. …”

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMS Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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[EQ] Costs and benefits of health information technology: an updated systematic review

Costs and benefits of health information technology: an updated systematic review

 

Paul G Shekelle, Caroline L Goldzweig

Southern California Evidence-based

Practice Centre

RAND Corporation - 2009

 

Available online PDF [64p.] at:  http://www.health.org.uk/publications/research_reports/health_technology.html

 

This report summarises the available international evidence on the costs and benefits of clinical health information technology systems.

 

“…..The use of health information technology (HIT) has been promoted as having tremendous promise to improve the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, quality and safety of medical care delivery. The hope is that healthcare can follow the example of many non-healthcare industries – in which implementation of computer information technology has been a critical part of increasing the accessibility of information – and automate labour-intensive and inefficient processes, and minimise human error….”

 

 

Contents

Summary

Chapter 1. Introduction

A framework for considering the costs and benefits of health information technology

Elements of the business case

What is generalisable knowledge regarding health information technology?

Chapter 2. Methods

Literature search

Article review

Selecting articles and data elements for the interactive database

Synthesising the results

Chapter 3. Results

Description of the studies

Major themes

Theme 1: The HIT leaders continue to publish studies showing the potential benefits and limitations of multifunctional clinical HIT systems. 2

Theme 2: Although still rare in number there are more published studies of commercial HIT systems.

Theme 3: There is a rise in the number of studies of HIT applications designed to be used by patients.

Theme 4: Cost and cost-effectiveness data are still limited.

Theme 5: There has been modest progress in identifying or reporting on barriers to adoption.

Chapter 4. Discussion and conclusions

Chapter 5. References

Appendices

Appendix A. Search strategies

Appendix B. Health information technologies pre-screening form

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMS Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.