Productivity change of national health systems in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region: application of DEA-based Malmquist productivity index.

BACKGROUND: The pursuit of efficiency and productivity is one of the goals of health systems. In the era of Sustainable Development Goals and particularly the move towards universal health coverage, it is imperative to curb wastage of resources to ensure sustainable access of the population to needed and effective health services without enduring financial hardship. This study aims to assess total factor productivity change of national health systems of 20 countries in the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region. METHODS: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)-based Malmquist index is used to assess total factor productivity change and its components - efficiency change and technical change. To assess the robustness of the Malmquist index estimates, bootstrapping was performed. Outputs used are life expectancy at birth for both sexes and infant mortality; while total expenditure on health per capita in international dollars (PPP) is used as a measure of input. Panel data for the period 2003-2014 was extracted from databases of the WHO and the World Bank. RESULTS: In all but five countries covered in the study, a decline in the mean total factor productivity is observed during the period 2003-2014. The decline is driven by technical regress. In all countries, the technical change component of the Malmquist TFP index is less than unity (range: 0.896 to 0.945). All countries exhibited growth in efficiency (efficiency change exceeding one) except two countries (Djibouti and Iraq). The growth in efficiency was mainly due to change in scale efficiency. Overall, total factor productivity in the region declined by 3.8%. This was due to a 9.1% decline in technical change, which overshadowed the 5.8% increase in efficiency. Three countries - Libya, Qatar and Yemen - showed a marginal growth in total factor productivity. There was no change in total factor productivity in Kuwait and Lebanon. CONCLUSION: The decline in total factor productivity over the study period is likely to hamper achieving the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 3 of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages. It is recommended that country-level studies on efficiency and productivity of health systems be conducted in order to intensively examine the determinants of inefficiency and productivity decline and implement appropriate interventions that could enhance efficiency and productivity.

Health status and health systems financing in the MENA region: roadmap to universal health coverage.

BACKGROUND: Since the declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 1990, many countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region made some improvements in maternal and child health and in tackling communicable diseases. The transition to the global agenda of Sustainable Development Goals brings new opportunities for countries to move forward toward achieving progress for better health, well-being, and universal health coverage. This study provides a profile of health status and health financing approaches in the MENA region and their implications on universal health coverage. METHODS: Time-series data on socioeconomics, health expenditures, and health outcomes were extracted from databases and reports of the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program and analyzed using Stata 12 statistical software. Countries were grouped according to the World Bank income categories. Descriptive statistics, tables and charts were used to analyze temporal changes and compare the key variables with global averages. RESULTS: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries account for more than three quarters of the disability-adjusted life years in all but two lower middle-income countries (Sudan and Yemen). Prevalence of risk factors (raised blood glucose, raised blood pressure, obesity and smoking) is higher than global averages and counterparts by income group. Total health expenditure (THE) per capita in most of the countries falls short of global averages for countries under similar income category. Furthermore, growth rate of THE per capita has not kept pace with the growth rate of GDP per capita. Out-of-pocket spending (OOPS) in all but the high-income countries in the group exceeds the threshold for catastrophic spending implying that there is a high risk of households getting poorer as a result of paying for health care. CONCLUSION: The alarmingly high prevalence of NCDs and injuries and associated risk factors, health spending falling short of the GDP and GDP growth rate, and high OOPS pose serious challenges for universal health coverage. Using multi-sector interventions, countries should develop and implement evidence-informed health system financing roadmaps to address these obstacles and move forward toward universal health coverage.

Primary Care Clinics and Accountable Care Organizations.

BACKGROUND: The Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is one of the new models of health care delivery in the U.S. To date, little is known about the characteristics of health care organizations that have joined ACOs. We report on the findings of a survey of primary care clinics, the objective of which was to investigate the opinions of clinic management about participation in ACOs, and the characteristics of clinic organizational structure that may contribute to joining ACOs or be willing to do so. METHODS: A 27-item survey questionnaire was developed and distributed by mail in 3 annual waves to all Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) in 9 states. Two dependent variables - participation in ACOs and willingness to join ACOs - were created and analyzed using a generalized estimating equation (GEE) approach. RESULTS: 257 RHCs responded to the survey. A small percentage (5.2%) of the respondent clinics reported that they were participating in ACOs. RHCs in isolated areas were 78% less likely to be in ACOs (odds= 0.22, p= 0.059). Non-profit RHCs indicated a higher willingness to join an ACO than for-profit RHCs (B= 1.271, p= 0.054). There is a positive relationship between RHC size and willingness to join an ACO (B= 0.402, p=0.010). CONCLUSIONS: At this early stage of ACO development, many RHC personnel are unfamiliar with the ACO model. Rural providers' limited technological and human resources, and the lack of ACO development in rural areas, may delay or prevent their participation in ACOs.

Predictors of Rural Health Clinics Managers' Willingness to Join Accountable Care Organizations.

PURPOSE: The implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has facilitated the development of an innovative and integrated delivery care system, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). It is timely, to identify how health care managers in rural health clinics are responding to the ACO model. This research examines RHC managers' perceived benefits and barriers for implementing ACOs from an organizational ecology perspective. METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A survey was conducted in Spring of 2012 covering the present RHC network working infrastructures - 1) Organizational social network; 2) organizational care delivery structure; 3) ACO knowledge, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers; 4) quality and disease management programs; and 5) health information technology (HIT) infrastructure. One thousand one hundred sixty clinics were surveyed in the United States. They cover eight southeastern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) and California. A total of ninety-one responses were received. FINDINGS: RHC managers' personal perceptions on ACO's benefits and knowledge level explained the most variance in their willingness to join ACOs. Individual perceptions appear to be more influential than organizational and context factors in the predictive analysis. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: The study is primarily focused in the Southeastern region of the U.S. The generalizability is limited to this region. The predictors of rural health clinics' participation in ACOs are germane to guide the development of organizational strategies for enhancing the general knowledge about the innovativeness of delivering coordinated care and containing health care costs inspired by the Affordable Care Act. ORIGINALITY/VALUE OF PAPER: Rural health clinics are lagged behind the growth curve of ACO adoption. The diffusion of new knowledge about pros and cons of ACO is essential to reinforce the health care reform in the United States.

INFRASTRUCTURAL MECHANISMS LEADING TOWARD PRO-ACCOUNTABLE CARE ORGANISATION ORIENTATION: A SURVEY OF HOSPITAL MANAGERS.

Organisations across the country are transforming the way they deliver care, in ways similar to the accountable care organisation (ACO) model supported by Medicare. ACOs modalities are varying in size, type, and financing structure. Little is known about how specific infrastructural mechanisms influence hospital managers' pro-ACO orientation. Using an electronic-survey of hospital managers, this study explores how pro-ACO orientation, as a latent construct, is captured from the perceptions of hospital managers; and identify infrastructural mechanisms leading to the formation of pro-ACO orientation. Of the total hospital respondents, 58% are moving toward the establishment of ACOs; 56% are planning to join in the next two years; 48% are considering joining ACOs; while 25% had already participated in ACOs during 2012. Urban hospitals are more likely than rural hospitals to be engaged in ACO development. The health provider network size is one of the strongest indicators in predicting pro-ACO orientation.

Internal marketing: creating quality employee experiences in health care organizations.

To cope with the recent challenges within the health care industry, health care managers need to engage in the internal marketing of their various services. Internal marketing has been used as an effective management tool to increase employees' motivation, satisfaction, and productivity (J Mark Commun. 2010;16(5):325-344). Health care managers should understand that an intense focus on internal marketing factors will lead to a quality experience for employees that will ultimately have a positive effect on the patient experiences.

The distribution of physicians workforce in Louisiana: results from a cross-sectional study.

For the past two decades, Louisiana's population health rankings as reported by the United Health Foundation have been among the lowest in the nation. In addition, the 2009 Commonwealth State Scorecards Report ranked the Louisiana health system performance, in terms of health outcomes, among the poorest in the nation. One reason for this disparity could be attributed to shortages of physicians and other healthcare resources in the state. These shortages were exacerbated by the damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 to hospitals and physicians' practices in New Orleans and throughout the state. This descriptive cross-sectional study focused on the geographical dimension of access and on one of its critical determinants: the availability of physicians. The objective behind this study was to offer a better understanding of the determinants of geographical imbalances in the distribution of physicians in the state of Louisiana. This study is part one of a three-part series that examines the association between total physician supply, primary care, and specialty care supply on mortality amenable to healthcare (MAHC).