Priority setting in the planning of health care services

Priority setting in health care is not a novelty but it is an issue of growing scientific importance during the last decades because no health care system can afford to pay for every service it wishes to provide. A goal of priority setting is justice in health care re source allocation; that is, it is based on fair and legitimate mechanisms and processes in decision-making. Participants in de cisionmaking process, criteria, alternatives and the appropriate methods are some of the basic components of the priority setting process. Prioritization of health care planning is on government agendas across the world. Some places, like the Netherlands, Oregon (USA), New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom, have carried out ambitious efforts to cope with the dilemmas of resource allocation in health care. Several articles have been published, about prioritization in the planning of health care services whereas somer researchers have studied the attitudes to health care priority setting among managers, politicians, providers, users and the general public. The common denominator of the empirical studies is that there are substantial differences in the way the different groups have approached the issue of prioritization health services.

Category: Volume 45, N 1
Hits: 778 Hits
Created Date: 15-03-2006
Authors: Petros Kolovos , Panayota Sourtzi