strategy
Reducing government expenditure on tertiary health facilities
Synonyms:
Limiting highly specialized public medical care Description:
Excluding from essential clinical services health services with very low cost-effectiveness. Examples include heart surgery; treatment (other than pain relief) of highly fatal cancers of the lung, liver and stomach; expensive drug therapies for HIV infection; and intensive care for severely premature babies. Context:
Very few cost-effective interventions depend on sophisticated hospitals and specialized physicians. Implementation:
In the 1980s Papua New Guinea, to correct over-concentration of resources on higher-level facilities, limited public spending on hospitals to 40% of the recurrent budget of the Ministry of Health -- well below the level in most developing countries. Claim:
Governments in developing countries should spend at least 50% less that they now do on less cost-effective interventions and instead double or triple spending on basic public health programmes such as immunizations and on essential clinical services. Broader:
Reducing funds for researchDecreasing public health costsControlling government financesIncreasing efficiency of public spendingLimiting availability of public facilities Constrains:
Developing medical educationImproving medical facilitiesMeeting specialized medical needs Facilitates:
Investing in healthEstablishing primary health careProviding public health servicesReducing discriminatory use of health facilitiesFinancing public health interventions with substantial externalities Facilitated by:
Reallocating government spending on health Problems:
Prohibitive cost of private medical care
Subjects:
Commerce → FinanceHealth Care → Health
Health Care → Care
Education → Secondary and higher education
Government → Government
Government → Public
Type Classification:
D: Detailed strategies Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
