Health systems in transition最新文献

{"title":"Turkey. Health system review.","authors":"Mehtap Tatar,&nbsp;Salih Mollahaliloğlu,&nbsp;Bayram Sahin,&nbsp;Sabahattin Aydin,&nbsp;Anna Maresso,&nbsp;Cristina Hernández-Quevedo","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Turkey has accomplished remarkable improvements in terms of health status in the last three decades, particularly after the implementation of the Health Transformation Program (HTP (Saglikta Donus, um Programi)). Average life expectancy reached 71.8 for men and 76.8 for women in 2010. The infant mortality rate (IMR) decreased to 10.1 per 1000 live births in 2010, down from 117.5 in 1980. Despite these achievements, there are still discrepancies in terms of infant mortality between rural and urban areas and different parts of the country, although these have been diminishing over the years. The higher infant mortality rates in rural areas can be attributed to low socioeconomic conditions, low female education levels and the prevalence of infectious diseases. The main causes of death are diseases of the circulatory system followed by malignant neoplasms. Turkeys health care system has been undergoing a far-reaching reform process (HTP) since 2003 and radical changes have occurred both in the provision and the financing of health care services. Health services are now financed through a social security scheme covering the majority of the population, the General Health Insurance Scheme (GHIS (Genel Saglik Sigortasi)), and services are provided both by public and private sector facilities. The Social Security Institution (SSI (Sosyal Guvenlik Kurumu)), financed through payments by employers and employees and government contributions in cases of budget deficit, has become a monopsonic (single buyer) power on the purchasing side of health care services. On the provision side, the Ministry of Health (Saglik Bakenligi) is the main actor and provides primary, secondary and tertiary care through its facilities across the country. Universities are also major providers of tertiary care. The private sector has increased its range over recent years, particularly after arrangements paved the way for private sector provision of services to the SSI. The most important reforms since 2003 have been improvements in citizens health status, the introduction of the GHIS, the instigation of a purchaser provider split in the health care system, the introduction of a family practitioner scheme nationwide, the introduction of a performance-based payment system in Ministry of Health hospitals, and transferring the ownership of the majority of public hospitals to the Ministry of Health. Future challenges for the Turkish health care system include, reorganizing and enforcing a referral system from primary to higher levels of care, improving the supply of health care staff, introducing and extending public hospital governance structures that aim to grant autonomous status to public hospitals, and further improving patient rights.</p>","PeriodicalId":38995,"journal":{"name":"Health systems in transition","volume":"13 6","pages":"1-186, xiii-xiv"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"30536219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Poland health system review.","authors":"Anna Sagan,&nbsp;Dimitra Panteli,&nbsp;W Borkowski,&nbsp;M Dmowski,&nbsp;F Domanski,&nbsp;M Czyzewski,&nbsp;Pawel Gorynski,&nbsp;Dorota Karpacka,&nbsp;E Kiersztyn,&nbsp;Iwona Kowalska,&nbsp;Malgorzata Ksiezak,&nbsp;K Kuszewski,&nbsp;A Lesniewska,&nbsp;I Lipska,&nbsp;R Maciag,&nbsp;Jaroslaw Madowicz,&nbsp;Anna Madra,&nbsp;M Marek,&nbsp;A Mokrzycka,&nbsp;Darius Poznanski,&nbsp;Alicja Sobczak,&nbsp;Christoph Sowada,&nbsp;Maria Swiderek,&nbsp;A Terka,&nbsp;Patrycja Trzeciak,&nbsp;Katarzyna Wiktorzak,&nbsp;Cezary Wlodarczyk,&nbsp;B Wojtyniak,&nbsp;Iwona Wrzesniewska-Wal,&nbsp;Dobrawa Zelwianska,&nbsp;Reinhard Busse","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Since the successful transition to a freely elected parliament and a market economy after 1989, Poland is now a stable democracy and is well represented within political and economic organizations in Europe and worldwide. The strongly centralized health system based on the Semashko model was replaced with a decentralized system of mandatory health insurance, complemented with financing from state and territorial self-government budgets. There is a clear separation of health care financing and provision: the National Health Fund (NFZ) the sole payer in the system is in charge of health care financing and contracts with public and non-public health care providers. The Ministry of Health is the key policy-maker and regulator in the system and is supported by a number of advisory bodies, some of them recently established. Health insurance contributions, borne entirely by employees, are collected by intermediary institutions and are pooled by the NFZ and distributed between the 16 regional NFZ branches. In 2009, Poland spent 7.4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health. Around 70% of health expenditure came from public sources and over 83.5% of this expenditure can be attributed to the (near) universal health insurance. The relatively high share of private expenditure is mostly represented by out-of-pocket (OOP) payments, mainly in the form of co-payments and informal payments. Voluntary health insurance (VHI) does not play an important role and is largely limited to medical subscription packages offered by employers. Compulsory health insurance covers 98% of the population and guarantees access to a broad range of health services. However, the limited financial resources of the NFZ mean that broad entitlements guaranteed on paper are not always available. Health care financing is overall at most proportional: while financing from health care contributions is proportional and budgetary subsidies to system funding are progressive, high OOP expenditures, particularly in areas such as pharmaceuticals, are highly regressive. The health status of the Polish population has improved substantially, with average life expectancy at birth reaching 80.2 years for women and 71.6 years for men in 2009. However, there is still a vast gap in life expectancy between Poland and the western European Union (EU) countries and between life expectancy overall and the expected number of years without illness or disability. Given its modest financial, human and material health care resources and the corresponding outcomes, the overall financial efficiency of the Polish system is satisfactory. Both allocative and technical efficiency leave room for improvement. Several measures, such as prioritizing primary care and adopting new payment mechanisms such as diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), have been introduced in recent years but need to be expanded to other areas and intensified. Additionally, numerous initiatives to enhance quality control and build the required e","PeriodicalId":38995,"journal":{"name":"Health systems in transition","volume":"13 8","pages":"1-193"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"30587737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Kyrgyzstan: Health system review.","authors":"Ainura Ibraimova,&nbsp;Baktygul Akkazieva,&nbsp;Aibek Ibraimov,&nbsp;Elina Manzhieva,&nbsp;Bernd Rechel","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Kyrgyzstan has undertaken wide-ranging reforms of its health system in a challenging socioeconomic and political context. The country has developed two major health reform programmes after becoming independent: Manas (1996 to 2006) and Manas Taalimi (2006 to 2010). These reforms introduced comprehensive structural changes to the health care delivery system with the aim of strengthening primary health care, developing family medicine and restructuring the hospital sector.Major service delivery improvements have included the introduction of new clinical practice guidelines, improvements in the provision and use of pharmaceuticals, quality improvements in the priority programmes for mother and child health, cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, strengthening of public health and improvements in medical education. A Community Action for Health programme was introduced through new village health committees, enhancing health promotion and allowing individuals and communities to take more responsibility for their own health. Health financing reform consisted of the introduction of a purchaser provider split and the establishment of a single payer for health services under the state-guaranteed benefit package (SGBP). Responsibility for purchasing health services has been consolidated under the Mandatory Health Insurance Fund (MHIF), which pools general revenue and health insurance funding. Funds have been pooled at national level since 2006, replacing the previous pooling at oblast level. The transition from oblast-based pooling of funds to pooling at the national level allowed the MHIF to distribute funds more equitably for the SGBP and the Additional Drug Package. Although utilization of both primary care and hospital services declined during the 1990s and early 2000s, it is increasing again. There is increasing equality of access across regions, improved financial protection and a decline in informal payments, but more efforts will be required in these areas in the future.</p>","PeriodicalId":38995,"journal":{"name":"Health systems in transition","volume":"13 3","pages":"xiii, xv-xx, 1-152"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"30257937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Netherlands: health system review.","authors":"Willemijn Schäfer,&nbsp;Madelon Kroneman,&nbsp;Wienke Boerma,&nbsp;Michael van den Berg,&nbsp;Gert Westert,&nbsp;Walter Devillé,&nbsp;Ewout van Ginneken","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Health Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of health systems and of policy initiatives in progress or under development. HiTs examine different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services and the role of the main actors in health systems. They also describe the institutional framework, process, content, and implementation of health and health care policies, highlighting challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis. Undoubtedly the dominant issue in the Dutch health care system at present is the fundamental reform that came into effect in 2006. With the introduction of a single compulsory health insurance scheme, the dual system of public and private insurance for curative care became history. Managed competition for providers and insurers became a major driver in the health care system. This has meant fundamental changes in the roles of patients, insurers, providers and the government. Insurers now negotiate with providers on price and quality and patients choose the provider they prefer and join a health insurance policy which best fits their situation. To allow patients to make these choices, much effort has been made to make information on price and quality available to the public. The role of the national government has changed from directly steering the system to safeguarding the proper functioning of the health markets. With the introduction of market mechanisms in the health care sector and the privatization of former sickness funds, the Dutch system presents an innovative and unique variant of a social health insurance system. Since the stepwise realization of the blueprint of the system has not yet been completed, the health care system in The Netherlands should be characterized as being in transition. Many measures have been taken to move from the old to the new system as smoothly as possible. Financial measures intended to prevent sudden budgetary shocks and payment mechanisms have been (and are) continuously adjusted and optimized. Organizational measures aimed at creating room for all players to become accustomed to their new role in the regulated market. As the system is still a \"work in progress\", it is too early to evaluate the effects and the consequences of the new system in terms of accessibility, affordability, efficiency and quality. Dutch primary care, with gatekeeping GPs at its core, is a strong foundation of the health care system. Gatekeeping GPs are a relatively unusual element in social health insurance systems. The strong position of primary care is considered to prevent unnecessary use of more expensive secondary care, and promote consistency and coordination of individual care. It continues to be a policy priority in The Netherlands. The position of the patient in The Netherlands is strongly anchored in several laws concerning their rights, their relation to providers and insurers, access to information","PeriodicalId":38995,"journal":{"name":"Health systems in transition","volume":"12 1","pages":"v-xxvii, 1-228"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29513799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Azerbaijan: health system review.","authors":"Fuad Ibrahimov,&nbsp;Aybaniz Ibrahimova,&nbsp;Jenni Kehler,&nbsp;Erica Richardson","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Health Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of a health system and of policy initiatives in progress or under development. HiTs examine different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services and the role of the main actors in health systems; describe the institutional framework, process, content and implementation of health and health care policies; and highlight challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis. Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Reform of the health care system in Azerbaijan has been incremental so that organizationally it still has many of the key hallmarks of the Soviet model of health care, the Semashko system. However, relatively low levels of government expenditure on health as a proportion of gross domestic product since independence has meant that out of pocket (OOP) payments accounted for almost 62% of total health expenditure in 2007. This has serious implications for access to care and financial risk protection for vulnerable households. The private provision of services is an increasingly important part of the health system, and services provided in parallel by other ministries and state enterprises continue to account for a certain amount of health expenditure. Revenues from the recent oil boom have been used to fund large capital investment projects such as the building of new hospitals with the latest technology and the import of modern equipment. However, future plans include the strengthening of primary care and the introduction of mandatory health insurance as part of major reforms to the health financing system.</p>","PeriodicalId":38995,"journal":{"name":"Health systems in transition","volume":"12 3","pages":"1-115"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29513798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Belgium: Health system review.","authors":"Sophie Gerkens,&nbsp;Sherry Merkur","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Health Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of a health system and of policy initiatives in progress or under development. HiTs examine different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services and the role of the main actors in health systems; describe the institutional framework, process, content and implementation of health and health care policies; and highlight challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis. The Belgian population continues to enjoy good health and long life expectancy. This is partly due to good access to health services of high quality. Financing is based mostly on proportional social security contributions and progressive direct taxation. The compulsory health insurance is combined with a mostly private system of health care delivery, based on independent medical practice, free choice of physician and predominantly fee-for-service payment. This Belgian HiT profile (2010) presents the evolution of the health system since 2007, including detailed information on new policies. While no drastic reforms were undertaken during this period, policy-makers have pursued the goals of improving access to good quality of care while making the system sustainable. Reforms to increase the accessibility of the health system include measures to reduce the out-of-pocket payments of more vulnerable populations (low-income families and individuals as well as the chronically ill). Quality of care related reforms have included incentives to better integrate different levels of care and the establishment of information systems, among others. Additionally, several measures on pharmaceutical products have aimed to reduce costs for both the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (NIHDI) and patients, while maintaining the quality of care.</p>","PeriodicalId":38995,"journal":{"name":"Health systems in transition","volume":"12 5","pages":"1-266, xxv"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29589400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"France: Health system review.","authors":"Karine Chevreul,&nbsp;Isabelle Durand-Zaleski,&nbsp;Stéphane Bahrami Bahrami,&nbsp;Cristina Hernández-Quevedo,&nbsp;Philipa Mladovsky","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Health Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of a health system and of policy initiatives in progress or under development. HiTs examine different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services and the role of the main actors in health systems; describe the institutional framework, process, content and implementation of health and health care policies; and highlight challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis. The French health care system is a mix of public and private providers and insurers. Public insurance, financed by both employees and employer contributions and earmarked taxes, is compulsory and covers almost the whole population, while private insurance is of a complementary type and voluntary. Providers of outpatient care are largely private. Hospital beds are predominantly public or private non-profit-making. The French population enjoys good health and a high level of choice of providers. It is relatively satisfied with the health care system. However, as in many other countries, the rising cost of health care is of concern with regards to the objectives of the health care system. Many measures were or are being implemented in order to contain costs and increase efficiency. These include, for example, developing pay-for-performance for both hospitals and self-employed providers and increasing quality of professional practice; refining patient pathways; raising additional revenue for statutory health insurance (SHI); and increasing the role of voluntary health insurance (VHI). Meanwhile, socioeconomic disparities and geographic inequality in the density of health care professionals remain considerable challenges to providing a good level of equity in access to health care. Organizational changes at the regional level are important in attempting to tackle both equity and efficiency-related challenges. While the organizational structure of the system remained very stable until the mid 1990s, in the following decade many changes occurred and several new institutions were created. Concurrently, the respective power and involvement of the parliament, government, local authorities and SHI in the policy-making process have evolved. However, the Ministry of Health has retained substantial control over the health system, although ongoing reforms at both the regional and the national levels may challenge its traditional role. This edition of the French HiT was written concurrently with the vote and implementation of the 2009 Hospital, Patients, Health and Territories Act, which dramatically changed again the organizational structure and management of the health care system at the regional and local level. In order to ensure a comprehensive description and understanding of the system, the HiT, therefore, describes both the previous organization and the reorganization following the Act. However, the implementation process of the Act and it","PeriodicalId":38995,"journal":{"name":"Health systems in transition","volume":"12 6","pages":"1-291, xxi-xxii"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29744112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ukraine: Health system review.","authors":"Valery Lekhan,&nbsp;Volodymyr Rudiy,&nbsp;Erica Richardson","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The HiT profiles are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of a health system and of policy initiatives in progress or under development. HiTs examine different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services and the role of the main actors in health systems; describe the institutional framework, process, content and implementation of health and health care policies; and highlight challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis. The Ukrainian health system has preserved the fundamental features of the Soviet Semashko system against a background of other changes, which are developed on market economic principles. The transition from centralized financing to its extreme decentralization is the main difference in the health system in comparison with the classic Soviet model. Health facilities are now functionally subordinate to the Ministry of Health, but managerially and financially answerable to the regional and local self-government, which has constrained the implementation of health policy and fragmented health financing. Health care expenditure in Ukraine is low by regional standards and has not increased significantly as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) since the mid 1990s; expenditure cannot match the constitutional guarantees of access to unlimited care. Although prepaid schemes such as sickness funds are growing in importance, out-of-pocket payments account for 37.4% of total health expenditure. The core challenges for Ukrainian health care therefore remain the ineffective protection of the population from the risk of catastrophic health care costs and the structural inefficiency of the health system, which is caused by the inefficient system of health care financing. Health system weaknesses are highlighted by increasing rates of avoidable mortality. Recent political impasse has complicated health system reforms and policy-makers face significant challenges in overcoming popular distrust and fatigue in the face of necessary but as yet unimplemented reforms.</p>","PeriodicalId":38995,"journal":{"name":"Health systems in transition","volume":"12 8","pages":"1-183, xiii-xiv"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29763169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Greece: Health system review.","authors":"Charalambos Economou","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Health Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of a health system and of policy initiatives in progress or under development. HiTs examine different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services and the role of the main actors in health systems; describe the institutional framework, process, content and implementation of health and health care policies; and highlight challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis. The health status of the Greek population has strongly improved over the last few decades and seems to compare relatively favourably with other OECD and European Union (EU) countries. The health system is a mixture of public integrated, public contract and public reimbursement models, comprising elements from both the public and private sectors and incorporating principles of different organizational patterns. Access to services is based on citizenship as well as on occupational status.The system is financed by the state budget, social insurance contributions and private payments.The largest share of health expenditure constitutes private expenditure, mainly in the form of out of pocket payments which is also the element contributing most to the overall increase in health expenditure. The delivery of health care services is based on both public and private providers. The presence of private providers is more obvious in primary care,especially in diagnostic technologies, private physicians' practices and pharmaceuticals. Despite success in improving the health of the population, the Greek health care system faces serious structural problems concerning the organization, financing and delivery of services. It suffers from the absence of cost-containment measures and defined criteria for funding, resulting in sickness funds experiencing economic constraints and budget deficits. The high percentage of private expenditure goes against the principle of fair financing and equity in access to health care services. Efficiency is in question due to the lack of incentives to improve performance in the public sector. Mechanisms for needs assessment and priority-setting are underdeveloped and, as a consequence, the regional distribution of health resources is unequal. Centralization of the system is coupled with a lack of planning and coordination, and limited managerial and administrative capacity. In addition, the oversupply of physicians, the absence of a referral system, and irrational pricing and reimbursement policies are factors encouraging under-the-table payments and the black economy. These shortcomings result in low satisfaction with the health care system expressed by citizens. The landmark in the development of the Greek health care system was the creation of the national health system (ESY) in 1983. This report describes the development of the ESY at the structural level and generally, the process of implementing reforms. The strat","PeriodicalId":38995,"journal":{"name":"Health systems in transition","volume":"12 7","pages":"1-177, xv-xvi"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29680553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tajikistan: health system review.","authors":"Ghafur Khodjamurodov,&nbsp;Bernd Rechel","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Health Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of a health system and of policy initiatives in progress or under development. HiTs examine different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services and the role of the main actors in health systems; describe the institutional framework, process, content and implementation of health and health care policies; and highlight challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis. Tajikistan is undergoing a complex transition from a health system inherited from the Soviet period to new forms of management, financing and health care provision. Following independence and the consequences of the civil war, health funding collapsed and informal out-of-pocket payments became the main source of revenue, with particularly severe consequences for the poor. With the aim of ensuring equitable access to health care and formalizing out-of-pocket payments, the Ministry of Health developed a programme that encompassed a basic benefit package (also known as the guaranteed benefit package) for people in need and formal co-payments for other groups of the population. One of the main challenges for the future will be to reorient the health system towards primary care and public health rather than hospital-based secondary and tertiary care. Pilots of primary care reform, introducing per capita financing, are under way in three of the country's oblasts. There are marked geographical imbalances in health care resources and financing, favouring the capital and regional centres over rural areas. There are also significant inequities in health care expenditures across regions. The quality of care is another major concern, owing to the lack of investment in health facilities and technologies, an insufficient supply of pharmaceuticals, poorly trained health care workers, and a lack of medical protocols and systems for quality improvement.</p>","PeriodicalId":38995,"journal":{"name":"Health systems in transition","volume":"12 2","pages":"v-xix, 1-154"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29513797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}