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The cost-effectiveness of using performance-based financing to deliver the basic package of health services in
Ahmad S Salehi1, Josephine Borghi2, Karl Blanchet3
1Department of Global Health Development, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, London, UK ahmad.salehi@lshtm.ac.uk.
Insights
Performance-based financing (PBF) in Afghanistan was not cost-effective for maternal and child health services. The study found PBF
Area of Science:
- Health economics
- Public health policy
- Maternal and child health
Background:
- Performance-based financing (PBF) aims to enhance healthcare quality and utilization.
- Economic evaluations of PBF in real-world settings are scarce.
- Afghanistan implemented PBF from 2010-2015 for health services.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis of PBF in Afghanistan.
- To compare PBF against the standard of care for maternal and child health.
- To evaluate the financial costs and resource allocation within the PBF program.
Main Methods:
- Pragmatic cluster-randomised controlled trial in Afghanistan.
- Cost-effectiveness analysis from a provider-payer perspective.
- Unit cost analysis for antenatal care (ANC), skilled birth attendance (SBA), and postnatal care (PNC).
Main Results:
- PBF's incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was US$1242 per disability-adjusted life year averted.
- This ratio exceeded the opportunity cost threshold of US$349, indicating poor cost-effectiveness.
- Incentive payments constituted 70% of PBF's financial cost; unit costs for ANC, SBA, and PNC were significantly higher under PBF.
Conclusions:
- PBF, as implemented in Afghanistan, was not an optimal use of funds for improving maternal and child health services.
- Further appraisal of alternative PBF designs is necessary before large-scale implementation.
- PBF implementation must consider broader constraints affecting health service performance.
Abstract:
Performance-based financing (PBF) is a mechanism to improve the quality and the utilisation of health benefit packages. There is a dearth of economic evaluations of PBF in the 'real world'. Afghanistan implemented PBF between 2010 and 2015 and evaluated the programme using a pragmatic cluster-randomised control trial. We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of the PBF programme in Afghanistan, compared with the standard of care, from the provider payer's perspective. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of PBF compared with the standard of care was US$1242 per disability-adjusted life year averted; not cost-effective when compared with an opportunity cost threshold of US$349. Incentive payments were the main contributor to PBF financial cost (70%) followed by data verification (23%), staff time (5%) and administration (2%). The unit cost per case of antenatal care (ANC), skilled birth attendance (SBA) and postnatal care (PNC) services in the standard of care was US$0.96 (95% CI 0.92-1.0), US$4.8 (95% CI 4.1-6.3) and US$1.3 (95% CI 1.2-1.4), respectively, whereas the cost of ANC, SBA and PNC services per case in PBF areas were US$4.72 (95% CI 4.68-5.7), US$48.5 (95% CI 48.0-52.5) and US$5.4 (95% CI 5.1-5.9), respectively. To conclude, our study found that PBF, as implemented in the Afghan context, was not the best use of funds to strengthen the delivery of maternal and child health services. The cost-effectiveness of alternative PBF designs needs to be appraised before using PBF at scale to support health benefit packages. PBF needs to be considered in the context of funding the range of constraints that inhibit health service performance improvement.
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