Health care policy planning and management

The OECS Secretariat will create a Health Policy Management Unit (HPMU) to coordinate project activities, which will be in three areas: analytic and diagnostic studies, applied research and organizational development, and training and information dissemination. To provide the data needed for policymaking and decisionmaking, the project will fund a series of analytic and diagnostic studies, which will be conducted by HPMU staff, outside advisers, and host country staff. The studies may include country work plans to define health sector priorities; cost studies of hospital fee structures; studies of demand for health services; focus group studies of consumer perceptions of health service quality; insurance feasibility studies; hospital management studies; and resource allocation studies. Applied research activities will include pilot tests and implementation of policy reforms and new systems, based on information gathered in the analytic and diagnostic studies. Specifically, the project will pilot test: two new user fee systems; three hospital reforms (e.g., new payment, recordkeeping, or quality control systems); two health planning and resource reallocation reforms; one privatization scheme; and two insurance schemes. The project"s training and information dissemination activities will seek to promote the adoption and acceptance of policy reforms. Training will be carried out via both formal and informal means, through courses in the region and in the United States, policy workshops at which specific health financing and management policies are considered, and on-the-job training in conducting diagnostic studies and applied research. Information dissemination activities will include public education campaigns on specific issues. Planned activities include: policy workshops for senior Ministry of Health (MOH) personnel in each country, followed by follow-on consensus building workshops, to include participants from other ministries; annual regional policy workshops; mass media public education campaigns on user fees; development of a HPMU-based Health Financing/Management Resource Center for the Caribbean; and short-term training courses for 48 health sector analysts and policymakers. Amendment of 9/93 scales the PACD back 1 year to 9/97 and reduces the project"s funding level and planned outputs due to significant reductions (both realized and anticipated) in RDO/C"s budget. (PD-ABH-244) Pro-Ag amendment of 9/95 scales the PACD back to 6/96 in light of RDO/C"s scheduled close-out by 9/96, further reduces funding and output targets, and makes Anguilla, which recently gained full membership in the OECS, eligible to participate in regional seminars and workshops. (PD-ABM-144)