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COMPARING COMPARABLES: AN APPROACH TO ACCURATE CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISONS OF HEALTH SYSTEMS FOR EFFECTIVE HEALTHCARE PLANNING AND POLICY GUIDANCE

Mário Amorim Lopes (mario.lopes@fe.up.pt), Carlos Soares (csoares@fe.up.pt) and Álvaro Almeida (almeida@fep.up.pt)
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Mário Amorim Lopes: INESC-TEC and DEIG, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto
Carlos Soares: INESC-TEC and DEI, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto
Álvaro Almeida: CEF.UP and Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto

FEP Working Papers from Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto

Abstract: With rising healthcare costs, using health personnel and resources efficiently and effectively is critical. International cross-country and simple worker-to-population ratio comparisons are frequently used for improving the efficiency of health systems, planning of health human resources, and guiding policy changes. These comparisons are made between countries typically of the same continental region. However, if used imprudently, inconsistencies arising from frail comparisons of health systems may outweigh the positive benefits brought by new policy insights. In this work, we propose a different approach to international health system comparisons. We present a methodology to group similar countries in terms of mortality, morbidity, utilization levels, and human and physical resources, which are all factors that influence health gains. Instead of constructing an absolute rank or comparing against the average, the method finds countries that share similar ground, upon which more reliable comparisons can then be conducted, including performance analysis. We apply this methodology using data from WHO’s HFA-DB, and we present some interesting empirical relationships between indicators that may provide new insights into how such information can be used to promote better healthcare planning and policy guidance.

Keywords: health systems; health indicators; health policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 I19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2015-07
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