Thursday, May 27, 2010

[EQ] Using Evidence to Design Benefits

Research Insights:

Using Evidence to Design Benefits


National Health Policy Conference (NHPC) in Washington, D.C. in February 2010, AcademyHealth

Available online at: http://bit.ly/b7uYPD

“…………Whether evidence-based research fuels the broad reforms in health care delivery that are essential to improving quality and reining in health care costs will depend not only on the strength of research efforts but also on the development of effective strategies to integrate evidence into decisions about how people use health care.

 

Evidence-based purchasing programs rely on a broad variety of benefit design strategies, including strategies for determining “essential” or “core” benefits. They can provide ways to link insurance design to provider performance, e.g., adherence to evidence-based practice. Evidence-based benefit designs create incentives—in the form of either financial incentives or enhanced services—that drive consumer behavior.

 

The goal is to encourage people to use services that are effective and provide clinical benefit for the money spent. As the application of evidence-based designs advances, payers and policymakers will face trade-offs between the specificity of benefit structures and administrative efficiency. “Getting it right” can be technically difficult and expensive as well as politically problematic.

 

Evidence to-date suggests the need for research to address concerns related to establishing expectations about the standards for evidence in support of decisions about what insurance should pay for, determining how to expand the use of evidence to broader categories of health benefits, and developing a better understanding of how different types of incentives work with different populations…………”

 

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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/ KMC 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] Call for Expression of Interest: Case studies on Intersectoral Action on Health in urban settings

Call for Expression of Interest: 
Case studies on Intersectoral Action on Health in urban settings

WHO Kobe Centre - Centre for Health Development

Website:  http://bit.ly/bo6sAN 


Deadline: 25 June 2010

“            WHO Centre for Health Development in Kobe, Japan (also known as the WHO Kobe Centre - WKC), is calling for expressions of interest from institutions and individual researchers on preparing case studies on policies or interventions that have involved several sectors of government and society and have impacted - or aimed to impact on -health; particularly, but not restricted, to health equity and noncommunicable diseases through diet, physical activity, and other elements. 

 

WHO Kobe Centre is interested in both proposals to prepare case studies and ongoing or completed case studies, in order to derive lessons for policy-makers on how to promote intersectoral action on health and health in all policies to have an effective impact on health, particularly noncommunicable diseases in urban settings. Both national and city experiences are welcome.

 

The Centre is willing to support 3-6 case studies. Funding of each will depend on the nature of the research proposed, its duration, and the budget justification; up to US$ 6000 is available for each case.

 

We are also interested in identifying already-developed case studies, as well as non fund-seeking initiatives whose dissemination and analysis can contribute to deriving lessons for policy-makers. It is envisaged that the case studies will be published and disseminated by WHO Kobe Centre.

 

Objectives

*         To identify opportunities and mechanisms for intersectoral action, particularly between health, agriculture, urban planning, industry, and commerce, that impact on NCDs through diet and physical activity within a strategy of Health in All Policies.

 

*         To identify how to best use Health Impact Assessment to trigger public policies with the involvement of several sectors that lead to healthy diets and increased opportunities for physical activity for the whole population.  Proposals addressing other issues in urban settings will also be considered.

 

*         To identify how existing laws, policies and other policy instruments that address nutrition as a human right contribute to effective implementation of intersectoral policies for healthy diets.

 

*         To derive lessons for national and sub-national policy-makers from different sectors on effective Health in All Policies approaches for impacting on diet and physical activity to prevent NCDs, particularly taking advantage of Health Impact Assessment and the human

rights framework.

 

Scope

The range of the policies or interventions for consideration include actions taken at either the national or sub-national level of government, such as the municipal arena.

 

The initiatives do not necessarily have to have been from the health sector, and they should correspond to actions carried out no earlier than the year 2000. 

 

The initiative should show how different sectoral interests were aligned and how operations were made systematic and integrated into the regular functioning of the bureaucracies and implementing institutions.

 

The areas of interventions should cover the intersection of the health sector and one or more of the following sectors: environment, transportation, agriculture, commerce, urban planning and industry. Other sectors will also be considered. We are interested in analyzing both "successes" and "failures".

 

Submission of expressions of interest

Research institutions or individual researchers may present an expression of interest via e-mail to isa@wkc.who.int

Questions should be directed to the same address. More details at http://www.who.or.jp/

Expressions of Interest (EoI) are due Friday, 25 June 2010 and should be no longer than 1500 words.

 

 The following information is required for an Expressions of Interest EoI:

 

1. The policy or intervention: An overview of the specific policy or intervention object of the case study, stating the relevance for noncommunicable disease, and for urban health if applicable. The sectors involved should be specified.

2. The empirical strategy to document the case. The methodological approach, sources of information, and data to be used in the research should be described.

3. Evidence of the impact of the policy. This can be empirical evidence.

4. General overview of expected lessons learnt.

5. Brief description of the research institution and/or individual researcher(s).

WHO Kobe Centre will contact only those people whose proposals are reviewed as feasible contributions to the priority research areas of the Centre; and it will not necessarily acknowledge the receipt of all proposals or explain its decisions.

 

*      *     *
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/ KMC 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”.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAHO/WHO Website

Equity List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html
Twitter http://twitter.com/eqpaho





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 dispose of and delete this transmission.

Thank you.