By OPEN MINDS Circle
According to new research from the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR), health systems and governments could benefit from investing in digital health upgrades to make health data interoperable with other data sources, which will allow a more complete view of population health needs and trends. The investments should focus on making data usable to ensure long-term health system resiliency and sustainability.
PHSSR has undertaken research into 12 countries’ health systems (Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Greece, India, Ireland, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Abu Dhabi), identifying several common challenges. They have wide variation in the availability, completeness, and use of health data to drive evidence-informed decisionmaking, policy evaluation, and learning. Most have challenges linking data points from disparate electronic health records systems. Each of the health systems studied faces resource constraints while demand for services has increased due to growing populations, aging populations, and an increase in non-communicable diseases.
The following issues for the 12 countries were highlighted in many of the reports:
- Underfinanced health systems in general, and reliance on funding mechanisms that do not incentivize better health outcomes.
- Common staff shortages, and an unequally distributed workforce. Staff well-being is impaired by lack of ability to meet consumer needs. People in rural areas, underprivileged, and marginalized groups, and those with chronic conditions are especially affected by health system staff shortages.
- Most lack sufficient capacity to provide coordinated and proactive care. Investments in primary care, prevention and health promotion also tend to be low.
- Pervasive health care access inequity. Many national policies underemphasize the need to address social determinants of health.
- Difficulty understanding, monitoring, and acting to protect their populations from the health impacts of climate change.
These findings were first shared at the PHSSR Global Summit, in November 2022. The research builds on evidence gained through an earlier round of work in 2021 that studied health systems in an initial group of eight countries (England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, and Vietnam). The PHSSR was established in 2020 by the London School of Economics, the World Economic Forum, and AstraZeneca, who were later joined by global-level partners that include Philips, KPMG, the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation (CAPRI) and the WHO Foundation. It is a collaboration between academic, non-governmental, life sciences, health care and business organizations. It seeks to provide information to help build resilient and sustainable health systems over the long-term.
For more information, contact: Alistair McGuire, Head of Department and Chair of Health Economics, Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom; +44 (0)20 7405 7686; Email: A.J.Mcguire@lse.ac.uk; Website: https://www.phssr.org/home
Editor’s Note: This article was updated on January 16, 2022 per G. A. Wharton at the London School of Economics.