Purchasing is the process by which funds are paid to healthcare providers to deliver services, and is a core function of healthcare financing. If designed and undertaken strategically, purchasing can promote quality, efficiency, equity and responsiveness in health service provision and, in doing so, facilitate progress towards universal health coverage.
RESYST has produced eight new policy briefs on the topic of strategic purchasing. Each brief outlines the actions of a healthcare purchaser – ranging from government departments to private health insurance companies and community self-help groups, and compares their actual purchasing practices with strategic actions in relation to three groups: healthcare providers, the government and citizens.
The briefs also provide recommendations as to how each purchaser can take strategic actions to promote quality, efficiency and equity in health service delivery.
Policy briefs on strategic purchasing for Universal Health Coverage
Medical schemes in South Africa
The integrated public health system in South Africa
The Formal Sector Social Health Insurance programme in Nigeria
The public integrated health system in Enugu State, Nigeria
Community-based health insurance schemes in Kenya
Private health insurance firms in Kenya
Universal Coverage Scheme and Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme in Thailand
The Social Health Insurance fund in Vietnam
The briefs are based on research carried out by RESYST, in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Observatory of Health Systems and Policies, in ten low and middle-income countries. Read more about the research here.
Photo credit: Le Thai Son, 2008. Courtesy of Photoshare.
