Síntesis final y recomendaciones para las políticas. Informe SESPAS 2008 / Final summary and policy recommendations

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[The impact of economics on health policy and management in Spain]. / Impacto de la economía en la politica y gestión sanitaria.

BACKGROUND: Despite the intrinsic value of scientific disciplines, such as Economics, it is appropriate to gauge the impact of its applications on social welfare, or at least--Health Economics' (HE) case--its influence on health policy and management. METHODS: The three relevant features of knowledge (production, diffusion and application) are analyzed, more from an 'emic' perspective--the one used in Anthropology relying on the experience of the members of a culture--than from an 'etic' approach seated on material descriptions and dubious statistics. RESULTS: The soundness of the principles and results of HE depends on its disciplinary foundations, whereas its relevance--than does not imply translation into practice--is more linked with the problems studied. Important contributions from Economics to the health sphere are recorded. HE in Spain ranks seventh in the world despite the relatively minor HE contents of its clinical and health services research journals. HE has in Spain more presence than influence, having failed to impregnate sufficiently the daily events. CONCLUSIONS: HE knowledge required by a politician, a health manager or a clinician is rather limited; the main impact of HE could be to develop their intuition and awareness.

Impacto de la economía en la política y gestión sanitaria / The impact of economics on health policy and management in Spain

Fundamento: Las disciplinas científicas, como la Economía,tienen valor per se, conviene, sin embargo, aproximar el impacto desus aplicaciones en el bienestar social, o como mínimo –caso de laEconomía de la Salud (ES)– en la política y gestión sanitarias.Métodos: Se atiende a las tres vertientes relevantes del conocimiento(producción de nuevo conocimiento, difusión y aplicación)utilizando más la perspectiva 'emic' –la empleada en antropologíabasándose en la experiencia de los integrantes de una cultura–, que laperspectiva 'etic' asentada en descripciones materiales y dudosasestadísticas.Resultados: La solidez de los principios y resultados de la ESdepende de la base disciplinaria en la que se apoya, mientras que surelevancia –que no su traslación a la práctica– está vinculada a la delas cuestiones a las que atiende. Se registran las aportaciones relevantesde la Economía al ámbito sanitario. El grado de desarrollo dela ES en España resulta notable: séptima posición mundial pese a losrelativamente menores contenidos de ES en las revistas clínicas y deinvestigación sobre servicios sanitarios de España. La ES tiene enEspaña más presencia que influencia, no habiendo logrado impregnarsuficientemente la práctica diaria.Conclusiones: Los conocimientos de Economía que necesita unpolítico o un gestor sanitario o un clínico son limitados; el impactode la ES pasará, sobre todo, por educarles el olfato

Background: Despite the intrinsic value of scientific disciplines,such as Economics, it is appropriate to gauge the impact of itsapplications on social welfare, or at least –Health Economics' (HE)case– its influence on health policy and management.Methods: The three relevant features of knowledge (production,diffusion and application) are analyzed, more from an 'emic' perspective–the one used in Anthropology relying on the experience ofthe members of a culture– than from an 'etic' approach seated onmaterial descriptions and dubious statistics.Results: The soundness of the principles and results of HEdepends on its disciplinary foundations, whereas its relevance –thandoes not imply translation into practice– is more linked with the problemsstudied. Important contributions from Economics to the healthsphere are recorded. HE in Spain ranks seventh in the world despitethe relatively minor HE contents of its clinical and health servicesresearch journals. HE has in Spain more presence than influence,having failed to impregnate sufficiently the daily events.Conclusions: HE knowledge required by a politician, a healthmanager or a clinician is rather limited; the main impact of HE couldbe to develop their intuition and awareness