Management Sciences for Health
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May 25, 2016
0 comments [1]

Motivating Better Health: Why Other Types of Programs So Often Fail—and Results-based Financing Succeeds [2]

Fragile States [3]
Health Systems Strengthening [4]
Universal Health Coverage [5]
 Warren Zelman} [2]Photo credit: Warren Zelman

There are no magic bullets in life. For fixing a healthcare system, though, there is one approach that comes close: results-based financing. Management Sciences for Health (MSH) pioneered results-based financing in Haiti in 1999, and has been adapting and improving it ever since in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South-East Asia, including in fragile states.

In my 20-plus years in global health, I’ve seen what happens without results-based financing: A major donor sends millions of dollars’ worth of equipment and supplies to a developing country—and the quality of health services delivered doesn’t improve—or worse, it declines. Why?

Health providers are human, like all of us—sensitive to incentives, motivation, and demotivation. Say a hospital improves and now is well stocked: the community realizes this and the utilization rate doubles. Suddenly, a nurse may be facing 40 patients a day instead of 20, but without any added pay or assistance. It’s only natural he or she might work less under the crushing workload.

Read more [2]

Source URL: http://www.msh.org/blog-tags/results-based-financing

Links
[1] http://www.msh.org/blog/2016/05/25/motivating-better-health-why-other-types-of-programs-so-often-fail%E2%80%94and-results-based#comments
[2] http://www.msh.org/blog/2016/05/25/motivating-better-health-why-other-types-of-programs-so-often-fail%E2%80%94and-results-based
[3] http://www.msh.org/blog-categories/fragile-states
[4] http://www.msh.org/blog-categories/health-systems-strengthening
[5] http://www.msh.org/blog-categories/universal-health-coverage