Introduction to Health Financing – PST06105 Health Financing
NTA Level 6 • Semester 1 • PST06105 Introduction to Health Financing Health Financing • Source Session/Topic 1 Full source-text version: all educational wording from the extracted learning source is retained; only presenter/tutor metadata and web-layout noise are removed, while formatting is improved for readability. PST 06105: HEALTH FINANCING Session 1: Introduction to Health Financing Learning Tasks At the end of this session students are expected to be able to : Explain the historical background of health financing Describe various concepts of health financing Historical Background of Health Financing H ealth financing has been one of the most important policy agenda nationally and internationally among health leaders and policy-makers. Health financing has risen on agenda of policy- makers due to the fact that health systems , especially developing countries, are facing what is known as a problem of financial (fiscal) sustainability. Historical Background of Health Financing Problem of financial sustainability: exists when health system or government is unable to meet its obligations due to its inability or unwillingness to generate sufficient revenue to meet them . Historical Background of Health Financing Key symptoms of the problem of financial sustainability: ( World Bank, 1987, 1993): Misallocation and insufficient spending on cost-effective health interventions needed by the population: public money was/is spent on health interventions of low cost effectiveness Internal inefficiency: much of the money spent on health is wasted: brand-name pharmaceuticals are purchased instead of generic drugs, health workers are badly deployed and supervised, and hospital beds are underutilized. Historical Background of Health Financing Key symptoms of the problem of financial sustainability: ( World Bank, 1987, 1993): Inequity in the distribution of benefits from health services: The better-off in most had and continue to have better access to health care ; the poor lack access to basic health services and receive low-quality care Difficulty in achieving or maintaining acceptable quality services within the government budget Historical Background of Health Financing As result of these problems, world bank and others proposed health sector reforms policies that were intended to improve performance of health systems; These reforms, among, other recommended that health financing should be strengthening by introducing the following: new financing mechanisms such as user fees, health insurance and other sick coverage; and improved management of public health services. Activity: Brainstorming What is the meaning of the term “health financing” and “sources of finances”? 8 Health financing is defined variously by different experts: R efers to collection of funds from various sources (e.g . government, individual, businesses, donors); pooling fund to share financial risks across larger population groups; and using them to pay for services from public and private health-care providers. (WHO, 2000) Is the process by which revenues are collected from primary and secondary sources, accumulated in fund pools and allocated to provider activities. ( Mossialos et al,2003 ), It is defined also as a process of raising financial resources to finance and pay for health services Sources of finances T he main sources of finances for health care are: Individuals , households and employees Firms , corporate entities and employers Foreign and domestic NGO‟s and charities Foreign governments, companies multilateral agencies Contribution Mechanisms The contribution mechanisms are the ways in which individuals, households, firms and governments do contribute funds to collecting agents. The main contributing mechanisms are : Direct and indirect taxes Compulsory insurance premiums Voluntary insurance premiums Out-of-pocket payment(user charges) Donations , grants and loans Medical savings accounts Importance or significance of health financing The importance or significance of health financing has been stated by WHO (2003) as follows : Adequate and sustained financing is a critical factor in the creation of a viable health system . Fair financing mechanisms allow people to access health services at the right time and prevent people against impoverishment Financing is the mechanism by which plans and policies are translated into action through the allocation of resources Importance or significance of health financing Without adequate financing, plans remain in the realm of rhetoric and good intentions With adequate financing, a resource base can be created for the operations and delivery of services, the development and deployment of a trained workforce and the required infrastructure and technology Financing is a fundamental building block on which the other critical aspects (services, human resources, medicines and equipment, health information and leadership and management) of the health system rest Also, financing is a powerful tool with which policy-makers can develop and shape health services and their impact in improving health of the population Key points Health financing is an important topic and sub-component of health system that facilitate delivery of health service and improvement of health of the population There are number of concepts that need to be understood for better understanding of health financing Evaluation What is the meaning of the following terms h ealth financing, health financing functions, sources of finance, contributing mechanism, and financing option/ mechanism What are the symptoms the problem of financial sustainability? Reference Gottret , P. Schieber , G. (2006). Health financing revisited: a practioner’s guide. Washington DC , USA. World Bank Green , A. (2007). An introduction to health planning for developing countries (3rd Ed.) London : Oxford University Press. Gruen , R and Howarth , A. (2005). Financial management for health services. London: Open University . Jiyenze , M. K. (2013). Health care financing and resource allocation: handout for teaching health care financing. Arusha : CEDHA. [Notes: Unpublished] Kutzin , J (2001). A descriptive framework for country-level analysis of health care financing arrangements . Health Policy; 56, 171–204. Reference Tanzania . MoHSW (2014). DHM Healthcare financing module. Dar es Salaam: MoHSW . Mossialos , et al ( ed ) (2002). Funding health care: options for Europe. Buckingham: Open University Press. WHO (2003). Mental health financing. Geneva. Switzerland: WHO. World Bank (1987). Financing health services in developing countries: an agenda for reform . Washington, D.C: World Bank ,. World Bank (1993). World Development Report 1993: investing in health. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Next Topic →View all Health Financing