Current and Emerging Issues of Strategic Purchasing of Healthcare Services for Health Systems’ Efficiency and Quality
January 23 @ 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm UTC+0
In this session, we will start giving an overview of the relevance of strategic purchasing to progress towards universal health coverage, the key elements of strategic purchasing and the related policy instruments. This will include specification of benefits (including conditions of access, such as referral systems and cost-sharing), provider selection, provider payment methods and contracting, as well as information management systems and governance arrangements for purchasing. A particular focus will be placed on blended payment methods to foster integrated care and care coordination. Next, we will look at implementation issues (e.g., sequencing, political economy considerations, building up the information management system) and how policy makers can address and overcome implementation challenges. The third part will link the discussion of (strategic) purchasing with other emerging themes. One is the role of digital technologies in health financing and their effects on UHC objectives. Benefits and risks of using digital technologies (including the use of machine learning) in purchasing related tasks will be discussed. The other topic we will explore is the role of health financing policies in climate mitigation and adaptation, outlining a range of purchasing instruments that can be adjusted to make a critical contribution to addressing climate change consequences.