Investigators at Brown University Describe Findings in Managed Care (A Health System Assessment Approach To Analysis of Political Parties’ Health Proposals, Portugal): Managed Care

2024 DEC 19 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Data detailed on Managed Care have been presented. According to news reporting from Providence, Rhode Island, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Problem Comparing health policy measures before elections and identifying potential gaps in the health policy debate can be challenging. Approach We explored the use of the Health System Performance Assessment for Universal Health Coverage framework to analyse health policy proposals by classifying health policy measures outlined in political manifestos into four health system functions: governance, financing, resource generation and service delivery.”

Financial support for this research came from National Funds of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Brown University, “As a case study, we analysed the political manifestos of all Portuguese parties with parliamentary representation ahead of the election in March 2024. We calculated the share of measures per health system function for individual political manifestos and identified potential gaps in the health policy debate. When required, we used additional classification criteria and local expertise on political and institutional knowledge. Local setting A snap general election was announced in Portugal in November 2023, following an alleged corruption scandal, and political parties began publishing their manifestos on their websites in January 2024. Relevant changes We identified and classified 350 health-related measures across the four functions: governance, 29.7% (104 measures); financing, 16.9% (59 measures); resource generation, 33.4% (117 measures); and service delivery, 20.0% (70 measures). These findings enabled characterization of the priorities of parties, facilitated cross-party comparisons and identified missing topics in the political debate. Lessons learnt We show that the framework can be adapted to analyse political manifestos, providing a systematic method for comparing and synthesizing health policy proposals.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “We further demonstrate the potential for extending the framework’s applicability beyond health system performance assessment, opening new avenues for policy analysis.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: A Health System Assessment Approach To Analysis of Political Parties’ Health Proposals, Portugal. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2024;102(11):820-827. Bulletin of the World Health Organization can be contacted at: World Health Organization, Marketing And Dissemination, Ch-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Sara Machado, Brown University, School of Public Health, Dept. of Health Services Policy and Practice, 121 S Main St, Providence, RI 02903, United States. Additional authors for this research include Ana Moura, Francisca Vargas Lopes and Luis Sa.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.24.291831. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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