COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plans from 106 countries: a review from a health systems resilience perspective.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has exposed long-standing fragmentation in health systems strengthening efforts for health security and universal health coverage while these objectives are largely interdependent and complementary. In this prevailing background, we reviewed countries' COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plans (CPRPs) to assess the extent of integration of non-COVID-19 essential health service continuity considerations alongside emergency response activities. We searched for COVID-19 planning documents from governments and ministries of health, World Health Organization (WHO) country offices and United Nations (UN) country teams. We developed document review protocols using global guidance from the WHO and UN and the health systems resilience literature. After screening, we analysed 154 CPRPs from 106 countries. The majority of plans had a high degree of alignment with pillars of emergency response such as surveillance (99%), laboratory systems (96%) and COVID-19-specific case management (97%). Less than half considered maintaining essential health services (47%); 41% designated a mechanism for health system-wide participation in emergency planning; 34% considered subnational service delivery; 95% contained infection prevention and control (IPC) activities and 29% considered quality of care; and 24% were budgeted for and 7% contained monitoring and evaluation of essential health services. To improve, ongoing and future emergency planning should proactively include proportionate activities, resources and monitoring for essential health services to reduce excess mortality and morbidity. Specifically, this entails strengthening subnational health services with local stakeholder engagement in planning; ensuring a dedicated focus in emergency operations structures to maintain health systems resilience for non-emergency health services; considering all domains of quality in health services along with IPC; and building resilient monitoring capacity for timely and reliable tracking of health systems functionality including service utilization and health outcomes. An integrated approach to planning should be pursued as health systems recover from COVID-19 disruptions and take actions to build back better.

Digital health in the Americas: advances and challenges in connected health.

In 2005, all WHO Member States pledged to fight for universal health coverage (UHC). The availability of financial, human and technological resources seems to be necessary to develop efficient health policies and also to offer UHC. One of the main challenges facing the health sector comes from the need to innovate efficiently. The intense use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the health field evidences a notable improvement in results obtained by institutions, health professionals and patients, principally in developed countries. In the Americas, the relationship between economic development and health innovation is not particularly evident. Data from 19 of 35 countries surveyed in the 2015 Third Global Survey on eHealth for the region of the Americas were analysed. 52.6% of the countries of the Americas have a national policy or strategy for UHC. 57.9% of the countries in the sample indicate that they have a national eHealth policy or strategy, but only 26.3% have an entity that supervises the quality, safety and reliability regulations for mobile health applications. The survey data indicate that high-income and low-income to middle-income countries show higher percentages in relation to the existence of entities that promote innovation. These countries also exceed 60%-compared with 40% and 50% in lower-income countries-in all cases regarding the use of eHealth practices, such as mobile health, remote patient monitoring or telehealth. 100% of low-income countries report offering ICT training to healthcare professionals, compared with 83% of wealthy countries and 81% of middle-income to high-income countries.

Quality improvement and emerging global health priorities.

Quality improvement approaches can strengthen action on a range of global health priorities. Quality improvement efforts are uniquely placed to reorient care delivery systems towards integrated people-centred health services and strengthen health systems to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). This article makes the case for addressing shortfalls of previous agendas by articulating the critical role of quality improvement in the Sustainable Development Goal era. Quality improvement can stimulate convergence between health security and health systems; address global health security priorities through participatory quality improvement approaches; and improve health outcomes at all levels of the health system. Entry points for action include the linkage with antimicrobial resistance and the contentious issue of the health of migrants. The work required includes focussed attention on the continuum of national quality policy formulation, implementation and learning; alongside strengthening the measurement-improvement linkage. Quality improvement plays a key role in strengthening health systems to achieve UHC.

Organizing integrated health-care services to meet older people's needs.

In most countries, a fundamental shift in the focus of clinical care for older people is needed. Instead of trying to manage numerous diseases and symptoms in a disjointed fashion, the emphasis should be on interventions that optimize older people's physical and mental capacities over their life course and that enable them to do the things they value. This, in turn, requires a change in the way services are organized: there should be more integration within the health system and between health and social services. Existing organizational structures do not have to merge; rather, a wide array of service providers must work together in a more coordinated fashion. The evidence suggests that integrated health and social care for older people contributes to better health outcomes at a cost equivalent to usual care, thereby giving a better return on investment than more familiar ways of working. Moreover, older people can participate in, and contribute to, society for longer. Integration at the level of clinical care is especially important: older people should undergo comprehensive assessments with the goal of optimizing functional ability and care plans should be shared among all providers. At the health system level, integrated care requires: (i) supportive policy, plans and regulatory frameworks; (ii) workforce development; (iii) investment in information and communication technologies; and (iv) the use of pooled budgets, bundled payments and contractual incentives. However, action can be taken at all levels of health care from front-line providers through to senior leaders - everyone has a role to play.

Dans la plupart des pays, un changement fondamental de priorité dans l'organisation des soins cliniques destinés aux personnes âgées est nécessaire. Plutôt que d'essayer de gérer la variété des maladies et symptômes de manière individuelle, l'accent devrait être mis sur les interventions qui optimisent les capacités physiques et mentales des personnes âgées sur tout leur parcours de vie et qui leur permettent de continuer de réaliser les activités qui comptent pour elles. Mais cela suppose de modifier le mode d'organisation des prestations, avec une meilleure intégration à l'intérieur du système de santé et entre les services de santé et d'aide sociale. Cela ne signifie pas que les structures existantes doivent fusionner, mais plutôt qu'une grande diversité de prestataires doit travailler ensemble de manière plus coordonnée. Des données factuelles montrent que des prestations de santé et d'aide sociale intégrées entraînent de meilleurs résultats sur la santé des personnes âgées que les prestations de soins habituelles, pour un coût équivalent; d'où l'obtention d'une meilleure rentabilité des investissements comparativement aux modes de travail classiques. Elles permettent aussi aux personnes âgées de s'impliquer socialement et d'apporter leurs contributions à la société pendant plus longtemps. Une telle intégration est particulièrement importante au niveau des soins cliniques: des évaluations exhaustives devraient être réalisées chez les personnes âgées dans une optique d'optimisation de leurs capacités fonctionnelles, et les plans de soins devraient être communs à tous les prestataires. Au niveau du système de santé, l'intégration des prestations nécessite: (i) l'adoption de politiques, programmes et cadres réglementaires favorables; (ii) le développement du personnel de santé; (iii) un investissement dans les technologies de l'information et de la communication; et (iv) la mise en place de budgets communs, de paiements regroupés et de mesures contractuelles incitatives. Toutefois, des actions peuvent être entreprises à tous les niveaux d'organisation des soins de santé, depuis les prestataires de première ligne jusqu'aux hauts responsables ­ tout le monde a un rôle à jouer.

En la mayoría de países se necesita un cambio fundamental en el enfoque de la atención clínica que reciben las personas mayores. En lugar de intentar gestionar numerosas enfermedades y síntomas por separado, debería ponerse énfasis en las intervenciones que optimizan las capacidades físicas y mentales de las personas mayores durante su vida y que les permitan hacer lo que ellos valoran. Esto, a su vez, requiere un cambio en la forma en la que se organizan los servicios: debería haber más integración dentro del sistema sanitario y entre los servicios sanitarios y sociales. Las estructuras organizativas existentes no deben fusionarse, sino que el amplio conjunto de proveedores de servicios debe trabajar conjuntamente de una forma más coordinada. Las pruebas indican que la atención sanitaria y social integrada para las personas mayores contribuye a unos mejores resultados sanitarios a un coste equivalente a la atención habitual. De esta forma, se obtiene una mayor rentabilidad de la inversión que la obtenida con formas de trabajar más familiares. Además, las personas mayores pueden participar y contribuir en la sociedad durante más tiempo. La integración a nivel de la atención clínica es especialmente importante: las personas mayores deberían someterse a asesoramiento integral con el objetivo de optimizar la capacidad funcional, y deberían compartirse los planes de atención entre todos los proveedores. A nivel del sistema sanitario, la atención integrada requiere: (i) política, planes y marcos normativos de apoyo; (ii) desarrollo del personal sanitario; (iii) inversión en tecnologías de la información y comunicación; y (iv) el uso de presupuestos y pagos combinados e incentivos contractuales. No obstante, esto puede realizarse en todos los niveles de la atención sanitaria, desde los proveedores de primera línea hasta el personal directivo; todos juegan un papel.

Surgical Human Resources According to Types of Health Care Facility: An Assessment in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

BACKGROUND: A robust health care system providing safe surgical care to a population can only be achieved in conjunction with access to competent surgical personnel. It has been reported that 5 billion people do not have access to safe, affordable surgical and anaesthesia care when needed. This study aims to fill the existing gap in evidence by quantifying shortfalls in trained personnel delivering safe surgical and anaesthetic care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) according to the type of health care facility. METHODS: We conducted secondary analysis of 1323 health facilities, in 35 low- and middle-income countries using facility-based cross-sectional data from the World Health Organization Situational Analysis Tool to Assess Emergency and Essential Surgical Care. RESULTS: The majority of surgical and anaesthetic care in LMICs was provided by general doctors (range 13.8-41.1%; mean 27.1%). Non-physicians made up a significant proportion of the surgical workforce in LMICs. 26.76% of the surgical and anaesthetic workforce was provided by clinical medical officers and nurses. Private/NGO/mission hospitals, large, well-resourced institutions had the highest proportion of surgeons compared to any other type of health care facility at 27.92%. This compares to figures of 18.2 and 19.96% of surgeons at health centres and subdistrict/community hospitals, respectively, representing the lowest level of health facility. CONCLUSIONS: We highlight the significant proportion of non-physicians delivering surgical and anaesthetic care in LMICs and illustrate wide variations according to the type of health care facility.

Implementation of the World Health Organization Trauma Care Checklist Program in 11 Centers Across Multiple Economic Strata: Effect on Care Process Measures.

BACKGROUND: Trauma contributes more than ten percent of the global burden of disease. Initial assessment and resuscitation of trauma patients often requires rapid diagnosis and management of multiple concurrent complex conditions, and errors are common. We investigated whether implementing a trauma care checklist would improve care for injured patients in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. METHODS: From 2010 to 2012, the impact of the World Health Organization (WHO) Trauma Care Checklist program was assessed in 11 hospitals using a stepped wedge pre- and post-intervention comparison with randomly assigned intervention start dates. Study sites represented nine countries with diverse economic and geographic contexts. Primary end points were adherence to process of care measures; secondary data on morbidity and mortality were also collected. Multilevel logistic regression models examined differences in measures pre- versus post-intervention, accounting for patient age, gender, injury severity, and center-specific variability. RESULTS: Data were collected on 1641 patients before and 1781 after program implementation. Patient age (mean 34 ± 18 vs. 34 ± 18), sex (21 vs. 22 % female), and the proportion of patients with injury severity scores (ISS) ≥ 25 (10 vs. 10 %) were similar before and after checklist implementation (p > 0.05). Improvement was found for 18 of 19 process measures, including greater odds of having abdominal examination (OR 3.26), chest auscultation (OR 2.68), and distal pulse examination (OR 2.33) (all p < 0.05). These changes were robust to several sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of the WHO Trauma Care Checklist was associated with substantial improvements in patient care process measures among a cohort of patients in diverse settings.

Assessment of Acute Burn Management in 32 Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether acute burn management (ABM) is available at health facilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). METHOD: The study used the World Health Organization situational analysis tool (SAT) which is designed to assess emergency and essential surgical care and includes data points relevant to the acute management of burns. The SAT was available for 1413 health facilities in 59 countries. RESULTS: A majority (1036, 77.5 %) of the health facilities are able to perform ABM. The main reasons for the referral of ABM are lack of skills (53.4 %) and non-functioning equipment (52.2 %). Considering health centres and district/rural/community hospitals that referred due to lack of supplies/drugs and/or non-functioning equipment, almost half of the facilities were not able to provide continuous and consistent access to the equipment required either for resuscitation or to perform burn wound debridement. Out of the facilities that performed ABM, 379 (36.6 %) are capable of carrying out skin grafts and contracture release, which is indicative of their ability to manage full thickness burns. However the magnitude of full thickness burns managed was limited in half of these facilities, as they did not have access to a blood bank. CONCLUSION: The initial management of acute burns is generally available in LMICs, however it is constrained by the inability to perform resuscitation (19 %) and/or burn wound debridement (10 %). For more severe burns, an inability to perform skin grafting or contracture release limits definitive management of full thickness burns, whilst lack of availability to blood further compromises the treatment of major burns.

A resource planning analysis of district hospital surgical services in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

BACKGROUND: The impact of surgical conditions on global health, particularly on vulnerable populations, is gaining recognition. However, only 3.5% of the 234.2 million cases per year of major surgery are performed in countries where the world's poorest third reside, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). METHODS: Data on the availability of anesthesia and surgical services were gathered from 12 DRC district hospitals using the World Health Organization's (WHO's) Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Situation Analysis Tool. We complemented these data with an analysis of the costs of surgical services in a Congolese norms-based district hospital as well as in 2 of the 12 hospitals in which we conducted the situational analysis (Demba and Kabare District Hospitals). For the cost analysis, we used WHO's integrated Healthcare Technology Package tool. RESULTS: Of the 32 surgical interventions surveyed, only 2 of the 12 hospitals provided all essential services. The deficits in procedures varied from no deficits to 17 services that could not be provided, with an average of 7 essential procedures unavailable. Many of the hospitals did not have basic infrastructure such as running water and electricity; 9 of 12 had no or interrupted water and 7 of 12 had no or interrupted electricity. On average, 21% of lifesaving surgical interventions were absent from the facilities, compared with the model normative hospital. According to the normative hospital, all surgical services would cost US$2.17 per inhabitant per year, representing 33.3% of the total patient caseload but only 18.3% of the total district hospital operating budget. At Demba Hospital, the operating budget required for surgical interventions was US$0.08 per inhabitant per year, and at Kabare Hospital, US$0.69 per inhabitant per year. CONCLUSION: A significant portion of the health problems addressed at Congolese district hospitals is surgical in nature, but there is a current inability to meet this surgical need. The deficient services and substandard capacity in the surveyed district hospitals are systemic in nature, representing infrastructure, supply, equipment, and human resource constraints. Yet surgical services are affordable and represent a minor portion of the total operating budget. Greater emphasis should be made to appropriately fund district hospitals to meet the need for lifesaving surgical services.

Charting the way forward to better quality health care: how do we get there and what are the next steps? Recommendations from the Salzburg Global Seminar on making health care better in low- and middle-income economies.

OBJECTIVE: In April 2012, the Salzburg Global Seminar (SGS) brought together 58 health leaders from 33 countries to review experiences in improving the quality and safety of health-care services in low- and middle-income countries, synthesize lessons learned from those experiences, discuss challenges and opportunities and recommend next steps to stimulate improvement in such countries. This work summarizes the seminar's key results, expressed as five shared challenges and five lessons learned. DESIGN: The seminar featured a series of interactive sessions with an all-teach, all-learn approach. Session topics were: introduction to the seminar, journey to date, challenges that lie ahead, overcoming the issues of confusion, sustaining execution, strengthening leadership and policy, the role of quality improvement in health systems strengthening and setting the agenda for learning and next steps. RESULTS: Key lessons from the SGS include reducing terminology and methodology confusion, strengthening the learning agenda, embracing improvement science as a means for strengthening health-care systems, developing leadership in improving health care and ensuring that health-care systems focus on patients and communities. A call to action was developed by SGS participants and presented at the 65th World Health Assembly in Geneva. CONCLUSION: There is an inarguable need to move improvement in health care to a new level to attain and exceed the Millennium Development Goals. The challenges can be overcome through concerted action of key stakeholders and the application of scientifically grounded management methods to enable the reliable implementation of high-impact interventions for every patient every time needed.

Application of patient safety indicators internationally: a pilot study among seven countries.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the potential for international comparison of patient safety as part of the Health Care Quality Indicators project of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) by evaluating patient safety indicators originally published by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). DESIGN: A retrospective cross-sectional study. SETTING: Acute care hospitals in the USA, UK, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Canada and Australia in 2004 and 2005/2006. DATA SOURCES: Routine hospitalization-related administrative data from seven countries were analyzed. Using algorithms adapted to the diagnosis and procedure coding systems in place in each country, authorities in each of the participating countries reported summaries of the distribution of hospital-level and overall (national) rates for each AHRQ Patient Safety Indicator to the OECD project secretariat. RESULTS: Each country's vector of national indicator rates and the vector of American patient safety indicators rates published by AHRQ (and re-estimated as part of this study) were highly correlated (0.821-0.966). However, there was substantial systematic variation in rates across countries. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study reveals that AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators can be applied to international hospital data. However, the analyses suggest that certain indicators (e.g. 'birth trauma', 'complications of anesthesia') may be too unreliable for international comparisons. Data quality varies across countries; undercoding may be a systematic problem in some countries. Efforts at international harmonization of hospital discharge data sets as well as improved accuracy of documentation should facilitate future comparative analyses of routine databases.

Trends in socioeconomic disparities in health care quality in four countries.

OBJECTIVE: To provide a targeted portrait of socioeconomic disparities in health care quality in four countries and how those disparities have changed over time. DESIGN: Within each country, comparisons between the highest and lowest quintiles of socioeconomic status were made to determine if disparities exist and if any observed disparities have been decreasing over a 5-year period. SETTING: Small geographic areas in Canada, England, New Zealand and the United States. DATA SOURCES: Data were obtained by working with national health statistics agencies in each country. RESULTS: There were socioeconomic disparities in health care quality and health status for most of the indicators studied in all four countries. The analysis included nine quality indicators in four countries, for a total of thirty-six observations. Twenty-six observations had a ratio of highest to lowest socioeconomic quintile of <0.95 or >1.05. These disparities generally persisted over time. The relative difference between the highest and lowest quintile decreased over time in eight of the twenty-one observations with time-series data available. CONCLUSION: The fact that disparities in a variety of indicators exist in four very different health systems underscores the importance of factors common to the four systems or factors outside the health system. Some successful strategies for reducing disparities could potentially be learned from the few examples of success in these countries.

Beyond the initial indicators: lessons from the OECD Health Care Quality Indicators Project and the US National Healthcare Quality Report.

UNLABELLED: Interest in comparative quality measurement and evaluation has grown considerably over the past two decades because of factors such as the recognition of widespread variation in clinical practice, the increased availability of evidence about medical effectiveness, and increasing concern about the cost and quality of health care. This article describes and contrasts two current efforts to develop health performance reporting systems: one, an international initiative-the Health Care Quality Indicator (HCQI) Project, sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); and the other, a national project-the National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR), sponsored by the US Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research. There are a number of lessons learned from a comparison of the two efforts that are relevant for the future of each project and for other indicator-based reporting efforts in quality of health care. These lessons are discussed in the article and include: Conceptual frameworks should be established to guide the selection of indicators. Choices should be made early on in the process to focus on a wide range of clinical conditions or to report on a few priority areas. METHODS: should be developed to add and subtract indicators while maintaining a stable set of indicators to track over time. Resources should be allocated to communication strategies and how best to present data results to diverse audiences. Mechanisms should be put in place to maintain project momentum.

Balancing the nation's health care scorecard: the National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports.

BACKGROUND: In January 2005, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) released the congressionally mandated reports on the United States health care system--the 2004 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports (NHQR and NHDR). They are intended to summarize the current state of the science of health care quality and disparities for a broad audience, including providers, consumers, researchers, and policy makers. BALANCING THE HEALTH CARE SCORECARDS: The NHQR and NHDR are designed as balanced scorecards, yet measure imbalance is evident with respect to relative attention to the quality dimensions, condition/clinical areas, and priority population. For example, heart disease and nursing home/home health each represent more than 20 measures of the total of 179 measures, whereas mental health and HIV/AIDS care are tracked with a total of six. USING THE SCORECARD FOR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT (QI): The measures making up the scorecards are derived directly from current national initiatives aimed at improving specific performance measures in hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies, which facilitates performance benchmarking at different levels of the health care system. CONCLUSION: Much work remains to be done if these reports are to be used to their fullest potential as balanced scorecards for the United States.

The impact of self-assessment on provider performance in Mali.

Improving the quality of clinical care in developing country settings is a difficult task, both in public sector settings where supervision is infrequent and in private sector settings where supervision and certification are non-existent. This study tested a low-cost method, self-assessment, for improving the quality of care that providers offer in a peri-urban area in Mali. The study was a cross-sectional, case-control study on the impact of self-assessment on compliance with the quality of care standards. The two indicators of interest were the compliance with fever care standards and the compliance with structural quality standards. Both standards were derived from the Ministry of Health of Mali's standards for health care delivery. The study examined 36 providers, 12 of whom were part of the intervention and 24 of whom were part of the control group over a 3 month period from May to July 2001. Overall, the research team found a significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of overall compliance (p < 0.001) and in terms of assessment of fever (p < 0.005). The total costs for the intervention for 36 providers was less than US$250, which translated to approximately $6 per provider. The data appear to suggest that self-assessment, when used in a regular fashion, can have a significant effect on compliance with standards. However, it is clear that self-assessment is not a resource-neutral intervention. All of the individuals from the intervention pool interviewed cited the extra work that they had to do to comply with the intervention protocol as a burden. In particular, study participants put an emphasis on the 'long duration' of the study that 'discouraged' the study participants. Future research on self-assessment should include a larger sample of providers and should examine the impact of self-assessment over time.