The Week in Headlines
UHC Forward's Weekly Roundup of Headlines from Around the Globe
Week of July 8, 2013 - Governments around the world are engaging in serious political and technical discussions on how to expand health coverage. Still others are considering such reforms, but are struggling to navigate the legal, financial, and political frameworks of their countries to determine the best path towards universal health coverage (UHC).
Below is a list of UHC-related headlines from around the world.
Joint Learning Network countries build costing manual for provider payment
Health provider payment systems—the way health providers are paid to deliver services—are increasingly being recognized as a powerful tool in the pursuit of universal health coverage (UHC). In their provider payment reform efforts, many countries are struggling to establish a cost basis for payment rates – the average cost per unit of service provided—to better leverage provider payment policy for UHC (see Box). Determining the cost of health services and then using this cost information to inform payment rates is not easy in data-constrained environments, and there is little existing guidance for countries to follow. Well, not yet anyway.
Who’s on your guest list? A reason to make sure policymakers are at the table
As co-sponsor and host of the workshop, “Equity in Universal Coverage: How to Reach the Poorest”, in Marrakech, Morocco from September 24-27, 2012, the Moroccan Ministry of Health was clear about the importance of organizing a workshop that acknowledged and linked the political dimension of achieving universal health coverage (UHC), to the discussion and debate on technical achievements and challenges. As RAMED, Morocco’s medical assistance scheme for the poor, moves to rapidly scale-up, ensuring continued government commitment is as critical to the success of the program as getting technical nuts and bolts issues resolved. RAMED needs the support of the Moroccan government to address its challenge of long-term financial sustainability and to continue to elevate affordability and quality in health service delivery as key priorities.
Parliamentarians as key allies in the movement towards universal health coverage
My experience at the equity in universal healthcare coverage workshop in Marrakech, Morocco
Between 24th and 27th September 2012, I participated, as part of Ghana’s team, in a workshop themed “Equity in Universal Healthcare Coverage: How to reach the Poorest” jointly organized in Marrakech, Morocco by the Moroccan Ministry of Health, the Financial Access to Health Services Community of Practice (FAHS CoP) and the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN).
The workshop provided an opportunity to review efforts by countries in Africa and Asia in their march towards universal health coverage for their populations. As the theme of the 2011 World Health Report, as well as of a number of international and regional conferences over the past 18 months.
WHO, the World Bank, and Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) developing a provider-payment assessment guide
The World Health Organization (WHO), along with the World Bank and the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN), is developing a diagnostic and assessment guide to support countries making reforms to mechanisms for paying health-service providers.
This initiative is part the global effort to achieve universal coverage, which was the theme of the 2010 world health report.
Health-systems financing is one of the key factors determining access to health services, the costs to patients and the quality and efficiency of service delivery. Many countries in the WHO European Region and globally seek ways to make health services available to all, as a key component of health-system reform.
Assessing and reforming provider-payment mechanisms can improve efficiency and quality in service delivery, which means increased value for money.
Leveraging UHC to Achieve High Quality Care
The Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage Quality Track convenes in Bangkok, Thailand
Quality is often a forgotten component in universal health coverage (UHC) reforms. How can payers enhance the quality of health care as they move toward UHC? This is the key question under discussion in the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) Quality Track meeting held on January 23-24, 2012, entitled “Leveraging Universal Health Initiatives to Achieve High-quality Care.”
Led by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and NICE International, meeting brought together nearly 80 colleagues and partners from the JLN countries as part of the JLN program at the 2012 Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) in Bangkok, Thailand.
Yesterday we learned about a range of mechanisms countries are using to purchase quality health care. For example:
- Dr.