Crossing the Global Quality Chasm

Crossing the Global Quality Chasm
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2019-01-27
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309477891

In 2015, building on the advances of the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals that include an explicit commitment to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. However, enormous gaps remain between what is achievable in human health and where global health stands today, and progress has been both incomplete and unevenly distributed. In order to meet this goal, a deliberate and comprehensive effort is needed to improve the quality of health care services globally. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm: Improving Health Care Worldwide focuses on one particular shortfall in health care affecting global populations: defects in the quality of care. This study reviews the available evidence on the quality of care worldwide and makes recommendations to improve health care quality globally while expanding access to preventive and therapeutic services, with a focus in low-resource areas. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm emphasizes the organization and delivery of safe and effective care at the patient/provider interface. This study explores issues of access to services and commodities, effectiveness, safety, efficiency, and equity. Focusing on front line service delivery that can directly impact health outcomes for individuals and populations, this book will be an essential guide for key stakeholders, governments, donors, health systems, and others involved in health care.

What's In, What's Out

What's In, What's Out
Author: Amanda Glassman
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2017-10-10
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1944691057

Vaccinate children against deadly pneumococcal disease, or pay for cardiac patients to undergo lifesaving surgery? Cover the costs of dialysis for kidney patients, or channel the money toward preventing the conditions that lead to renal failure in the first place? Policymakers dealing with the realities of limited health care budgets face tough decisions like these regularly. And for many individuals, their personal health care choices are equally stark: paying for medical treatment could push them into poverty. Many low- and middle-income countries now aspire to universal health coverage, where governments ensure that all people have access to the quality health services they need without risk of impoverishment. But for universal health coverage to become reality, the health services offered must be consistent with the funds available—and this implies tough everyday choices for policymakers that could be the difference between life and death for those affected by any given condition or disease. The situation is particularly acute in low- and middle income countries where public spending on health is on the rise but still extremely low, and where demand for expanded services is growing rapidly. What’s In, What’s Out: Designing Benefits for Universal Health Coverage argues that the creation of an explicit health benefits plan—a defined list of services that are and are not available—is an essential element in creating a sustainable system of universal health coverage. With contributions from leading health economists and policy experts, the book considers the many dimensions of governance, institutions, methods, political economy, and ethics that are needed to decide what’s in and what’s out in a way that is fair, evidence-based, and sustainable over time.

Going Universal

Going Universal
Author: Daniel Cotlear
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2015-09-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 146480611X

This book is about 24 developing countries that have embarked on the journey towards universal health coverage (UHC) following a bottom-up approach, with a special focus on the poor and vulnerable, through a systematic data collection that provides practical insights to policymakers and practitioners. Each of the UHC programs analyzed in this book is seeking to overcome the legacy of inequality by tackling both a “financing gap†? and a “provision gap†?: the financing gap (or lower per capita spending on the poor) by spending additional resources in a pro-poor way; the provision gap (or underperformance of service delivery for the poor) by expanding supply and changing incentives in a variety of ways. The prevailing view seems to indicate that UHC require not just more money, but also a focus on changing the rules of the game for spending health system resources. The book does not attempt to identify best practices, but rather aims to help policy makers understand the options they face, and help develop a new operational research agenda. The main chapters are focused on providing a granular understanding of policy design, while the appendixes offer a systematic review of the literature attempting to evaluate UHC program impact on access to services, on financial protection, and on health outcomes.

Global spending on health: coping with the pandemic

Global spending on health: coping with the pandemic
Author: World Health Organization
Publisher: World Health Organization
Total Pages: 86
Release: 2024-01-30
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9240086749

The report shows that global spending on health continued to increase in 2021, the second year of the pandemic, to US$ 9.8 trillion (10.3% of global GDP). The increase in spending was driven by higher government spending and out-of-pocket spending. In low income countries, external aid for health played an important role in supporting government spending. Sustaining government spending and external aid at 2021 levels could, however, prove challenging given the deterioration in global economic conditions, rising inflation and increased debt servicing obligations. The report also capitalizes on disaggregated spending information to provide new insights into the dynamics of increased global spending on health through the pandemic. Using data disaggregated by health service providers it shows some of the ways that health service delivery systems coped with the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitals, ambulatory care providers, and pharmacies accounted for most health spending. Shifts were observed, however, in the composition of services within provider types, reflecting the new and evolving demands through the pandemic. Disaggregated spending data by disease and condition also shows a delicate balance between spending on COVID-19 and other diseases was maintained. The report also examines countries’ health capital investment, which shape current operational capacity and are essential for forging a path toward effective and resilient health systems.

Multidimensional Perspectives and Global Analysis of Universal Health Coverage

Multidimensional Perspectives and Global Analysis of Universal Health Coverage
Author: Demir Uslu, Yeter
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 499
Release: 2020-01-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 179982330X

Many countries are seeking to reach an effective universal health coverage system to increase the quality of life of their citizens. By implementing universal health coverage, countries can support all citizens, including those who do not have the financial power to pay for healthcare services, in receiving the necessary medical treatment to enable them to live healthier lives. Multidimensional Perspectives and Global Analysis of Universal Health Coverage is an essential reference source that defines the significance of universal health coverage and studies multiple concepts related to universal health coverage that can support qualified recommendations for governments seeking to improve their healthcare situation. Featuring research on topics such as financial risk, organizational performance, and patient safety, this book is ideally designed for policymakers, hospital executives, government officials, lawmakers, politicians, academicians, students, and researchers.

The American Health Care Paradox

The American Health Care Paradox
Author: Elizabeth Bradley
Publisher: Public Affairs
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2013-11-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1610392094

Considers why U.S. society is believed to be less healthy in spite of disproportionate spending on health care, identifying a lack of social services, outdated care allocations, and a resistance to government programs as the problem.

Research for Universal Health Coverage

Research for Universal Health Coverage
Author: Christopher Dye
Publisher: World Health Organization
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2013
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9241564598

"The World Health Report: research for universal health coverage" focuses on the importance of research in advancing progress towards universal health coverage. In addition, it identifies the benefits of increased investment in health research by low- and middle-income countries using case studies from around the world, and proposes ways to further strengthen this type of research.

U.S. Health in International Perspective

U.S. Health in International Perspective
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2013-04-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309264146

The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.

Universal Health Coverage for Inclusive and Sustainable Development

Universal Health Coverage for Inclusive and Sustainable Development
Author: Akiko Maeda
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 75
Release: 2014-07-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464802971

The book synthesizes the experiences from Bangladesh, Brazil, France, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Peru, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam in implementing policies to achieve and sustain Universal Health Coverage. The study focuses on three aspects of UHC reforms: political economy, health financing, and human resources for health.