Healthcare reform

Council for Medical Schemes Annual Report 2012

Published by: 
Council of Medical Schemes

South Africa’s health system is undergoing a muchneeded strategic review. Both the public and the private sectors are affected. And the role of regulators remains crucial in this changing environment. The Council for Medical Schemes continued to execute its mandate in the financial year under review. By guiding the medical schemes industry into unprecedented stability and performance, Council continued to support e¥orts aimed at strengthening the entire health system of the country.

National health insurance in Asia and Africa

Published by: 
UNICEF

There is widespread consensus that providing universal, sustainable, affordable and quality health services underpins efforts to achieve equitable health outcomes. UNICEF in 2010-2011 conducted a two-phase landscape analysis, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, to investigate how health insurance and other social health protection mechanisms contribute to achieving universal health coverage (UHC). The work built on previous research examining the protection from impoverishment that health insurance provides to vulnerable groups, the potential for increasing and expanding insurance coverage, and the options for and constraints limiting the use of insurance to attain UHC. 

The dilemmas of co-payment and moral hazard in the context of an NHI

Published by: 
UCT Health Economics Unit

The use of ‘co-payments’ to deal with possible ‘over-utilisation’ of health care services is a key point of contention in policy debates related to South Africa’s National Health Insurance proposals.

Over-utilisation occurs when health care provision (in instances when it is free at the point of service), leads to inappropriate and excessive utilisation.  Co-payments mean users still receive health services that are heavily subsidised (from public funds in the case of the proposed NHI), but have to pay something towards the cost of services – this aims to curb the frivolous use of services and avoid over-utilisation.

National Health Insurance Conference Report “Lessons for South Africa”

Published by: 
Department of Health (South Africa)

The focus of the National Health Insurance Conference, themed “Lessons for South Africa”, was to create a national consultative health forum as a platform for South Africans to engage with local and international experts in the areas of health financing and health systems reforms and how these have been undertaken in other contexts to ensure that universal coverage to quality health services is achieved for the entire national population. The Conference was organised as part of the Department’s strategy to consult as many stakeholders as is possible on the contents of the Green Paper on National Health Insurance (NHI) which was published in Gazette Number 34523 on 12th August 2011 to initiate a process of eliciting comments from the public.

Research Programme Report 1999-2001

Published by: 
Health Systems Trust
The purpose of this report is to provide a synthesis of programme activities during the 1999 2001 funding circle. It gives an overview of each of the key areas within the strategic framework, i.e. support for health systems research, capacity building and targeted information dissemination. The report highlights key lessons that have emerged from each of the strategic areas to be considered in formulating plans for the next funding circle.

Telemedicine

Series Name: 
HST Update
Published by: 
Health Systems Trust
Technology has developed in leaps and bounds in the last century, and health has always sought to make use of these advances in delivering better health care services. A new initiative worldwide is Telecommunications. Telemedicine, according to Dr. Salah H. Mandil, Director of Health Informatics and Telematics at the World Health Organisation, is the practice of medical care using audio, visual and data communications: this includes medical care delivery, consultation, diagnosis, treatment, education and the transfer of medical data. Education covers both the education of the patient and the continuing education of the health care staff. South Africa has embarked on its telemedicine project in April 1999. This issue looks at the pilot implementation of telemedicine in the Northern Cape, the Eastern Cape and at Kimberley Hospital. There are at present 30 pilot sites in the country, where community or district hospitals are linked to larger central hospitals. Services that are being offered include radiology, pathology, ultrasound and antenatal screening. How effective has this new service been? Positive responses have been received by doctors doing their community service in the country, but there are still technical challenges facing implementation of the project. Telemedicine is regarded as a tool to complement the current health care delivery in South Africa. It's full impact has still to be determined.

Essential Drugs List Programme

Series Name: 
HST Update
Published by: 
Health Systems Trust
The rapid escalation of drug costs is a world wide problem. But by all accounts, drug prices in South Africa's private sector are among the highest in the world. The South African government has responded to this problem by way of developing a national drug policy . An important element of this is an essential drugs programme which has, in the first instance, been developed for the public sector primary health care facilities.