Sub-national health accounts: Experience from Punjab State in India

Analysing changes to the flow of public funding within local health and care systems: An adaptation of the System of Health Accounts framework to a local health system in England

Financial flows relating to health care are routinely analysed at national and international level. They have rarely been systematically analysed at local level, despite sub-national variation due to population needs and decisions enacted by local organisations. We illustrate an adaptation of the System of Health Accounts framework to map the flow of public health and care funding within local systems, with an application for Greater Manchester (GM), an area in England which agreed a health and social care devolution deal with the central government in 2016. We analyse how financial flows changed in GM during the four years post-devolution, and whether spending was aligned with local ambitions to move towards prevention of ill-health and integration of health and social care. We find that GM decreased spending on public health by 15%, and increased spending on general practice by 0.1% in real terms. The share of total local expenditure paid to NHS Trusts for general and acute services increased from 70.3% to 71.6%, while that for community services decreased from 11.7% to 10.3%. Results suggest that GM may have experienced challenges in redirecting resources towards their goals. Mapping financial flows at a local level is a useful exercise to examine whether spending is aligned with system goals and highlight areas for further investigation.

Mapping Healthcare Data Sources in India

Healthcare data sources collect and report various kinds of health data related to routine service delivery, patient-based care, resources related to infrastructure, human resources and finance. Typically, in developing countries, multiple sources are used for the provision of healthcare data, and these include national health surveys, census and civil registration systems, and routine reporting systems. In addition, rapid infusion of information technology has increased adoption of management information systems in public health programs. During the last decade, India has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of healthcare data sources as identified in this review. These sources have increased data availability in multiple data deficient areas. However, the careful appraisal indicates data gaps in numerous important areas. These sources also suffer from inherent quality, coverage and standardisation issues. To overcome these challenges, remedial measures include the development of a national healthcare data plan, a survey calendar, designation of a nodal survey agency, adoption of indicator dictionary, adequate capacity building, and increased coordination among stakeholders.

An Assessment of the Economic Feasibility of Selected Surgeries in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department under Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) in a Tertiary Care Hospital in South India

Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) is a form of micro health insurance targeted at low-income groups that permits for grouping of assets to tackle the expenses of future, uncertain, health-related circumstances. According to the International Labour Organisation, more than 80% of India's employed nonagricultural population is in the informal sector, implying that they are possibly excluded from receiving health insurance benefits. This is where CBHI comes into play, wherein groups of people belonging to a community define the demand and benefits and pool their resources to provide financial protection to all their members. This study aims to scrutinize the package prices sanctioned by these schemes and compare them with the cost incurred by the hospital. The expense pattern of three surgeries in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology was analysed under three insurance schemes: Arogya Bhagya Yojana, Arogya Karnataka, and Employees' State Insurance Scheme. Methodology. A retrospective study was conducted in a 2,032-bedded tertiary care hospital in South India. Patients of abdominal hysterectomy, vaginal hysterectomy, and caesarean section surgeries covered by any of the insurance schemes mentioned above were a part of the inclusion criteria. The patient records were examined from the hospital's Medical Records Department (MRD). The patients' bills were assembled from the inpatient billing department to scrutinize all the expenses associated with each surgery. The variable costs include consumables, medicine, electricity and AC, diagnostics, blood bank materials, doctor's fee, package differences, and others. In contrast, fixed costs include bed cost, equipment cost (purchase + annual maintenance cost), manpower cost-OT, manpower cost-nursing, and allocated indirect costs associated with the medical treatment. These were computed and compared with the package price of respective insurance schemes to determine if the schemes are profit-yielding schemes or loss-yielding schemes, using the data from the finance department. Results and Conclusion. It has been observed that the operating loss of the hospital for abdominal hysterectomy, vaginal hysterectomy, and caesarean section under CBHI schemes ranges between 7% and 36%. The highest loss was observed in Arogya Karnataka Scheme for caesarean section surgery (BPL patients). The amount received through these schemes is insufficient to cover the costs acquired by the hospital, let alone make a profit. However, under Arogya Bhagya and ESI Schemes, the hospital has made a profit in covering the variable costs for these surgeries. The study concludes that the hospital is running under loss due to the three Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) schemes.

Cost-Effectiveness of Temozolamide for Treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme in India

PURPOSE

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) has poor outcomes following surgery and radiation. Adjuvant temozolamide along with radiation therapy has been shown to improve survival. In this paper, we evaluate the cost-effectiveness of concomitant temozolamide with radiation and maintenance temozolamide for 6 months of treatment for GBM in India.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We used a Markov model to evaluate the lifetime costs and consequences of treating GBM with radiation alone versus radiation with adjuvant temozolamide. The model was calibrated using the published evidence from European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer-NCIC trial on progression-free survival and overall survival to estimate the life years (LYs) and quality-adjusted LYs (QALYs). Cost of treatment and management of complications were estimated using the data from the National Health System Cost Database and Indian studies. Future cost and consequences were discounted at 3%. Incremental cost per QALY gained with temozolamide was estimated to assess cost effectiveness.

RESULTS

Temozolamide resulted in an increase of 0.59 (0.53-0.66) LY and 0.33 (0.29-0.40) QALY per person at an incremental cost of ₹75,120 in Indian national rupee (INR) (59,337-93,960). Overall, the use of temozolamide incurs an incremental cost of ₹212,020 INR (138,127-401,466) per QALY gained, which has a 4.7% probability to be cost-effective at 1-time per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) threshold. In case the current price of temozolamide could be decreased by 90%, the probability of its use for GBM being cost-effective increases to 80%.

CONCLUSION

Temozolamide is not cost-effective for treatment of patients with GBM in India. This evidence should be used while framing guidelines for treatment and price regulation.

Cost of scaling-up comprehensive primary health care in India: Implications for universal health coverage

India has announced the ambitious program to transform the current primary healthcare facilities to health and wellness centres (HWCs) for provision of comprehensive primary health care (CPHC). We undertook this study to assess the cost of this scale-up to inform decisions on budgetary allocation, as well as to set the norms for capitation-based payments. The scale-up cost was assessed from both a financial and an economic perspective. Primary data on resources used to provide services in 93 sub-health centres (SHCs) and 38 primary health care centres (PHCs) were obtained from the National Health System Cost Database. The cost of additional infrastructure and human resources was assessed against the normative guidelines of Indian Public Health Standards and the HWC. The cost of other inputs (drugs, consumables, etc.) was determined by undertaking the need estimation based on disease burden or programme guidelines, standard treatment guidelines and extent and pattern of care utilization from nationally representative sample surveys. The financial cost is reported in terms of the annual incremental cost at health facility level, as well as its implications at national level, given the planned scale-up path. Secondly, economic cost is assessed as the total annual as well as annual per capita cost of services at HWC level. Bootstrapping technique was undertaken to estimate 95% confidence intervals for cost estimations. Scaling to CPHC through HWC would require an additional ₹ 721 509 (US$10 178) million allocation of funds for primary healthcare >5 years from 2019 to 2023. The scale-up would imply an addition to Government of India's health budget of 2.5% in 2019 to 12.1% in 2023. Our findings suggest a scale-up cost of 0.15% of gross domestic product (GDP) for full provision of CPHC which compares with current public health spending of 1.28% of GDP and a commitment of 2.5% of GDP by 2025 in the National Health Policy. If a capitation-based payment system was used to pay providers, provision of CPHC would need to be paid at between ₹ 333 (US$4.70) and ₹ 253 (US$3.57) per person covered for SHC and PHC, respectively.

Going Granular: Equity of Health Financing at the District and Facility Level in India

Health financing equity analysis rarely goes below the state level in India. This paper assesses the equity and effectiveness of public spending on health in the state of Odisha. Using district-level public spending data for the first time, it sheds light on the incidence of public spending by geography and by type of services. There are three key findings. First, it identifies the weak link between district spending and district need, proxied by poverty rates or lagging sectoral outcomes, highlighting the potential for a more needs-based approach to public resource allocation. Second, the results indicate that at the household level health spending by the state is not pro-poor, especially in public hospitals, underscoring the need to improve access to care for the bottom 40% at these facilities. Third, an exhaustive analysis of micro-level treasury data brings into focus the importance of reforming public finance data systems to support evidence-based policy at the sub-state level. Significant district-wise variation in key health financing and equity indicators, combined with growing policy interest in the district level, underscore the utility of further empirical work in this area.

Cost analysis of pediatric intensive care: a low-middle income country perspective

Background

Globally, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) admissions are amongst the most expensive. In low middle-income countries, out of pocket expenditure (OOP) constitutes a major portion of the total expenditure. This makes it important to gain insights into the cost of pediatric intensive care. We undertook this study to calculate the health system cost and out of pocket expenditure incurred per patient during PICU stay.

Methods

Prospective study conducted in a state of the art tertiary level PICU of a teaching and referral hospital. Bottom-up micro costing methods were used to assess the health system cost. Annual data regarding hospital resources used for PICU care was collected from January to December 2018. Data regarding OOP was collected from 299 patients admitted from July 2017 to December 2018. The latter period was divided into four intervals, each of four and a half months duration and data was collected for 1 month in each interval. Per patient and per bed day costs for treatment were estimated both from health system and patient’s perspective.

Results

The median (inter-quartile range, IQR) length of PICU stay was 5(3–8) days. Mean ± SD Pediatric Risk of Mortality Score (PRISM III) score of the study cohort was 22.23 ± 7.3. Of the total patients, 55.9% (167) were ventilated. Mean cost per patient treated was US$ 2078(₹ 144,566). Of this, health system cost and OOP expenditure per patient were US$ 1731 (₹ 120,425) and 352 (₹ 24,535) respectively. OOP expenditure of a ventilated child was twice that of a non- ventilated child.

Conclusions

The fixed cost of PICU care was 3.8 times more than variable costs. Major portion of cost was borne by the hospital. Severe illness, longer ICU stay and ventilation were associated with increased costs. This study can be used to set the reimbursement package rates under Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY). Tertiary level intensive care in a public sector teaching hospital in India is far less expensive than developed countries.

Repurposing NGO data for better research outcomes: a scoping review of the use and secondary analysis of NGO data in health policy and systems research

Background

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) collect and generate vast amounts of potentially rich data, most of which are not used for research purposes. Secondary analysis of NGO data (their use and analysis in a study for which they were not originally collected) presents an important but largely unrealised opportunity to provide new research insights in critical areas, including the evaluation of health policy and programmes.

Methods

A scoping review of the published literature was performed to identify the extent to which secondary analysis of NGO data has been used in health policy and systems research (HPSR). A tiered analytical approach provided a comprehensive overview and descriptive analyses of the studies that (1) used data produced or collected by or about NGOs; (2) performed secondary analysis of the NGO data (beyond the use of an NGO report as a supporting reference); and (3) analysed NGO-collected clinical data.

Results

Of the 156 studies that performed secondary analysis of NGO-produced or collected data, 64% (n = 100) used NGO-produced reports (mostly to a limited extent, as a contextual reference or to critique NGO activities) and 8% (n = 13) analysed NGO-collected clinical data. Of these studies, 55% (n = 86) investigated service delivery research topics and 48% (n = 51) were undertaken in developing countries and 17% (n = 27) in both developing and developed countries. NGOs were authors or co-authors of 26% of the studies. NGO-collected clinical data enabled HPSR within marginalised groups (e.g. migrants, people in conflict-affected areas), albeit with some limitations such as inconsistent and missing data.

Conclusion

We found evidence that NGO-collected and produced data are most commonly perceived as a source of supporting evidence for HPSR and not as primary source data. However, these data can facilitate research in under-researched marginalised groups and in contexts that are hard to reach by academics such as conflict-affected areas. NGO–academic collaboration could help address issues of NGO data quality to facilitate their more widespread use in research. The use of NGO data use could enable relevant and timely research in the areas of programme evaluation and health policy and advocacy to improve health and reduce health inequalities, especially in marginalised groups and developing countries.

Cost of antiretroviral treatment for HIV patients in two centres of North India

There is paucity of evidence on cost of antiretroviral therapy (ART) delivered through the public sector in India. Moreover, the Government of India is considering changing the criteria for introduction of ART to HIV patients, which is likely to have significant economic implications. In this paper, we assess the health system cost of ART services at two levels of health care delivery. Bottom-up costing was used to collect data on capital and recurrent resources consumed over a period of one year (April 2014–March 2015). Capital costs were annualized and shared costs apportioned to calculate annual and unit costs of providing ART care. Sensitivity analysis was undertaken to measure the extent of uncertainty in input prices. The annual per capita cost of ART therapy was INR 48,975 (USD738) in the Centre of Excellence (COE) and INR 24,954 (USD376) in the ART centre. Drugs contributed around 70% and 65% of total annual cost, followed by human resource (19% each) and capital cost (7%; 12%) in COE and ART centres, respectively. These provide a comprehensive assessment of the cost of ART care in India. The study estimates could be used for planning of services, as well as undertaking further cost-effectiveness studies.