Epidemiological Transition and Disease Prevention

Accounting and Auditing

• Recording and summarizing financial effects of executive actions
• Importance of harmonious relationship between budget and account for current comparisons between goals and accomplishments
• Auditing involves investigating and reporting on the fidelity and legality of all financial transactions

Health Financing Policies

• Improve health outcomes
• Provide financial protection
• Support quality of care
• Align with global health priorities (e.g. addressing communicable and non-communicable diseases, advancing maternal and child health, and tackling emerging health threats)

Health Care Financing

• Collecting revenue
• Pooling resources
• Purchasing goods and services

Three Basic Functions of a Health Financing System

• Revenue Generation: raising funds to finance healthcare services
• Pooling of funds: redistributing funds to cover healthcare needs of individuals, reducing financial burden on individuals
• Purchasing and Allocation: purchasing healthcare services, medications, and equipment, guided by healthcare needs, priorities, and cost-effectiveness considerations

Health Financing Systems

• National Health Service (e.g. UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Italy)
  • Main revenue type: general taxes
  • Pooling: national pool
  • Purchasing: national or regional direct purchase of services
• Social Health Insurance (e.g. France, Germany, Japan)
  • Main revenue type: payroll tax
  • Pooling: pools by job or income
  • Purchasing: collective and selective contracts
• Private Health Insurance (e.g. USA, Greece, Singapore)
  • Main revenue type: individual and employer payments
  • Pooling: privately managed pools
  • Purchasing: selective contracts

Health Service Financing Source

• Public expenditure: central and local government funds, taxes
• Private expenditure: voluntary payments by individuals or employers
• External sources: external aid, international non-governmental organizations

Impact of Financing Method

• Who bears the financial burden
• Amount of resources available
• Who manages the allocation of resources

Changing Government Role in Health Care

• Health is considered a public good
• Government needs to actively participate to avoid market failures

Equity in Health Care

• Equity in financing
• Equity in access to health care
• Equal level of health status
• Equity in terms of risk protection offered

Health Economics

• Study of how resources are allocated within the healthcare system to maximize health outcomes
• Analyzing and comparing costs and consequences of medical interventions or health programs to inform decision-making and resource allocation

Costs

• Direct costs: expenses directly associated with providing healthcare services (e.g. medical supplies, personnel salaries)
• Indirect costs: costs incurred as a result of illness or disease but not directly related to healthcare provision (e.g. lost productivity due to illness or disability)

Outcomes

• Positive outcomes: e.g. drug's efficacy, cure of disease, disease prevention, QALY
• Negative outcomes: e.g. treatment failure, nosocomial infection, malpractice

Health Care Costs and Health Outcomes

• Initially, increasing healthcare resources leads to improved outcomes
• Above a certain level, increasing investments in healthcare yield more marginal benefits

The Importance of Price

• To the seller: revenue and profit source
• To the consumer: cost of something
• In the broadest sense, price allocates resources in a free-market economy

Epidemiological Transition

• Shifting burden of disease from communicable diseases to non-communicable diseases
• Health promotion and disease prevention efforts
• Investment in public health infrastructure
• Chronic disease management programs

Controlling Costs

• Financing schemes without proper cost control mechanisms
• Shift towards value-based payment models
• Utilization reviews to evaluate appropriateness and necessity of healthcare services
• More cost-sharing by patients (e.g. co-payments, deductibles, and co-insurance)

This quiz covers the epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases and strategies for health promotion, disease prevention, and chronic disease management. Learn about public health infrastructure and population-level health interventions.