Health System Governance Evaluation: A Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Health Systems Research
• Public Health Policy
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Health system governance is vital for effective healthcare delivery.
• Evaluating governance is the primary step toward its improvement.
• This research focuses on identifying tools for health system governance evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and review existing evaluation tools for health system governance.
• To understand the scope and components of current governance evaluation methods.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive scoping review was conducted.
• Searched multiple databases (Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, etc.) and Google Scholar up to 2022.
• Thematic analysis was used to analyze extracted documents.

Main Results:

• Thirty tools were identified for health system governance evaluation.
• Eleven tools were specific to governance, while others included governance as a component.
• Key governance components include policy-making, planning, stewardship, and control, assessed via indicators like accountability, transparency, and efficiency.

Conclusions:

• Existing tools have limitations in fully evaluating health system governance.
• A comprehensive evaluation approach is needed to enhance health system capacity and stability.
• Sharing lessons learned from governance evaluations can improve the quality and safety of health services.