The role of leadership in times of systems disruption: a qualitative study of health and social care integration.

OBJECTIVES: To understand whether and how effective integration of health and social care might occur in the context of major system disruption (the COVID-19 pandemic), with a focus on how the initiative may overcome past barriers to integration. DESIGN: Rapid, descriptive case study approach with deviant case sampling to gather and analyse key informant interviews and relevant archival documents. SETTING: The innovation ('COVID-19 Protect') took place in Norfolk and Waveney, UK, and aimed to foster integration across highly diverse organisations, capitalising on existing digital technology to proactively identify and support individuals most at risk of severe illness from COVID-19. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-six key informants directly involved with project conceptualisation and early implementation. Participants included clinicians, executives, digital/information technology leads, and others. Final sample size was determined by theoretical saturation. RESULTS: Four primary recurrent themes characterised the experiences of diverse team members in the project: (1) ways of working that supported rapid collaboration, (2) leveraging diversity and clinician input for systems change, (3) allowing for both central control and local adaptation and (4) balancing risk taking and accountability. CONCLUSIONS: This rapid case study underscores the role of leadership in large systems change efforts, particularly in times of major disruption. Project leadership overcame barriers to integration highlighted by prior studies, including engaging with aversion to clinical/safety risk, fostering distributed leadership and developing shared organisational practices for data sharing and service delivery. These insights offer considerations for future efforts to support strategic integration of health and social care.

The impact of an integrated care intervention on mortality and unplanned hospital admissions in a disadvantaged community in England: A difference-in-differences study.

BACKGROUND: Many health systems are experimenting with integrated care models to improve outcomes and reduce healthcare demand. Evidence for effects on health service utilisation is variable, with few studies investigating impacts on mortality or differences by socioeconomic group. OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of a multidisciplinary, integrated care team intervention on emergency admissions and mortality, and whether effects differed by deprivation group. DESIGN: A longitudinal matched controlled study using difference-in-differences analysis comparing the change in unplanned emergency admissions twelve months before and after the intervention, and inverse probability of treatment-weighted survival analysis comparing mortality, between intervention and matched control groups. SETTING: A relatively deprived city in England, U.K. INTERVENTION: A case-management integrated care programme delivered through multidisciplinary teams and aimed at complex needs and/or high hospitalisation risk patients. RESULTS: The intervention was associated with a small increase in emergency admissions of 15 per 1,000 patients per month (95% CI 5 to 24, p = 0.003) after the intervention relative to the control group and no significant change in survival between intervention and control groups (HR 0.9, 95% CI 0.84 to 1.13, p = 0.7). Effects were similar across age and deprivation groups. CONCLUSIONS: It is unlikely that similar interventions lead to reduced emergency admissions or increased survival. Further studies should use experimental methods and assess impacts on quality of life.

Critical Factors Favoring Outward Physician Migration from an Affluent Gulf Country.

BACKGROUND: Physician retention is essential to creating a strong and stable healthcare system worldwide. The density of physicians and nurses significantly impacts important population health outcomes. Globalization has enabled the mobility of physicians, but the recruitment and retention of quality physicians have not been without challenges. The purpose of this study was to identify the outward migration factors affecting expatriate physicians who have resided and worked in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for at least 5 years, as compared with newly emigrated physicians. This physician population has likely adapted to the local environment and actively contributed to the advancement of medical care in the country; their attrition is a significant loss to the UAE healthcare system. METHODS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: A 23-point validated survey questionnaire, consisting of four domains, was electronically administered to the participants (n = 374), and responses were statistically analyzed, using descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test. RESULTS: Our results indicate that all physicians considered a ten-year visa to be factor contributing to retention, more so for the recent physician migrants to the UAE. Professional development opportunities, career-specific plans and income promoted only short-term retention of physicians in the UAE. Non-financial factors related to living and working conditions prevented migration of physicians who lived in the country for more than five years. CONCLUSION: Lifestyle-related factors are an important consideration in long-term retention of physicians in the UAE. Initiatives to promote career advancement and improve job satisfaction for mid- and late-career clinicians are necessary to set the foundation for a robust physician retention policy and to enhance the quality of the healthcare system. Long-term visas provide an additional factor for retention.

Health workforce development and retention in Guinea: a policy analysis post-Ebola.

BACKGROUND: The state of the Guinean health workforce is one of the country's bottlenecks in advancing health outcomes. The impact of the 2014-2015 Ebola virus disease outbreak and resulting international attention has provided a policy window to invest in the workforce and reform the health system. This research constitutes a baseline study on the health workforce situation, professional education, and retention policies in Guinea. The study was conducted to inform capacity development as part of a scientific collaboration between Belgian and Guinean health institutes aiming to strengthen public health systems and health workforce development. It provides initial recommendations to the Guinean government and key actors. METHODOLOGY: The conceptual framework for this study is inspired by Gilson and Walt's health policy triangle. The research consists of a mixed-methods approach with documents and data collected at the national, regional, and district levels between October 2016 and March 2017. Interviews were conducted with 57 resource persons from the Ministry of Health, other ministries, district health authorities, health centers and hospitals, health training institutions, health workers, community leaders, NGO representatives, and development partners. Quantitative data included figures obtained from seven health professionals' schools in each administrative region of Guinea. A quantitative analysis was conducted to determine the professional graduate trends by year and type of personnel. This provided for a picture of the pool of professional graduates available in the regions in relation to the actual employment possibilities in rural areas. The districts of Forecariah and Yomou were chosen as the main study sites. RESULTS: Limited recruitment and a relative overproduction of medical doctors and nurse assistants have led to unemployment of health personnel. There was a mismatch between the number of civil servants administratively deployed and those actually present at their health posts. Participants argued for decentralization of health workforce management and financing. Collaboration between government actors and development partners is required to anticipate problems with the policy implementation of new health workers' deployment in rural areas. Further privatization of health education has to meet health needs and labor market dynamics.

Towards incentivising integration: A typology of payments for integrated care.

Traditional provider payment mechanisms may not create appropriate incentives for integrating care. Alternative payment mechanisms, such as bundled payments, have been introduced without uniform definitions, and existing payment typologies are not suitable for describing them. We use a systematic review combined with example integrated care programmes identified from practice in the Horizon2020 SELFIE project to inform a new typology of payment mechanisms for integrated care. The typology describes payments in terms of the scope of payment (Target population, Time, Sectors), the participation of providers (Provider coverage, Financial pooling/sharing), and the single provider/patient involvement (Income, Multiple disease/needs focus, and Quality measurement). There is a gap between rhetoric on the need for new payment mechanisms and those implemented in practice. Current payments for integrated care are mostly sector- and disease-specific, with questionable impact on those with the most need for integrated care. The typology provides a basis to improve financial incentives supporting more effective and efficient integrated care systems.

Mercantilização nas reformas dos sistemas de saúde alemão, francês e britânico / Commodification in the reforms of the German, French and British health systems

Resumo Desde os anos 1980, os sistemas de saúde europeus vêm passando por várias reformas, com ênfase à tendência de sua mercantilização. O objetivo deste artigo é evidenciar formas de implementação de mecanismos de mercado no funcionamento desses sistemas, alemão, britânico e francês - a partir da década de 1980. As reformas "mercantis" eram justificadas a partir da premissa de que a inserção da lógica de mercado poderia tanto diminuir a necessidade de gastos públicos como aumentar a eficiência dos existentes. O trabalho apresenta diferentes formas de mercantilização implementadas nas reformas, com a distinção entre os processos de mercantilização explícita, em que há efetivo aumento da presença privada, e implícita, em que ocorre a incorporação de princípios advindos do setor privado no sistema público, tanto no financiamento como na prestação de serviços de saúde. Além do detalhamento das diferentes maneiras em que este fenômeno se expressa, o artigo apresenta brevemente os potenciais efeitos negativos desse processo para os sistemas de saúde, principalmente em termos de acesso e equidade, explicitando que as premissas iniciais em torno da mercantilização (redução de gastos e melhora na eficiência) parecem ser falsas.

Abstract Since the 1980s, European health systems have undergone several reforms, with emphasis on the tendency of their commodification. The objective of this article is to demonstrate how market mechanisms were implemented in the functioning of these systems, german, british and french - from the 1980s. The "mercantile" reforms were justified on the premise that the insertion of market logic could both reduce the need for public spending and increase the efficiency of existing expenditure. The work presents different forms of commodification implemented in the reforms, with the distinction between processes of explicit commodification, in which there is an effective increase in private, and implicit presence, in which there is incorporation of principles from the private sector in the public system, both in financing and in the provision of health services. In addition to detailing the different ways in which this phenomenon is expressed, the article briefly presents the potential negative effects of this process for health systems, especially in terms of access and equity, stating that the initial assumptions surrounding commodification (cost reduction and efficiency improvement) appear to be false.

The future of Turkish nursing 2050: perceptions of nurses and nurse educators.

AIM: To explore the perceptions of nurses and nurse educators regarding the future of nursing by the year 2050 in Turkey. BACKGROUND: Social changes, rapid population growth, globalization and worldwide environmental problems will cause greater changes in the field of health and health care in the near future than they have in the past. Undoubtedly, these changes will directly affect nursing. It is important that nurses and nurse educators forecast and direct the future and nursing to benefit from the effects of the changes that will occur in the future. DESIGN: A qualitative descriptive study which employed the use of individual in-depth interviews. METHODS: The study's sample participants were 21 hospital nurses and 16 nurse educators from universities in Istanbul, Turkey. They undertook individual in-depth interviews during July 2013-July 2014. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. FINDINGS: The study revealed that the participants' perceptions were based on the ideas that the future of nursing will be shaped in accordance with changes in humanity, environment and healthcare system, as well as worldwide future trends. Results indicated that participants were aware of the factors that will affect future of nursing and nursing education. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING POLICY: Research showed that participants had focused on the near future; they were not forecasting distance future. Also research found that not only future scenarios are needed for nurses, but also three kinds of scenarios are required related to factor such as humanity, environment and healthcare system those effect nurses. Futurists, health policymakers and nurse educators should work collaboratively with each other.

The ICN Leadership For Change™ Programme--20 years of growing influence.

AIM: The aim of this article was to present experiences from the field in the context of the International Council of Nurses' Leadership for Change™ programme, which celebrates 20 years of excellence in 2016 for developing the leadership and management capacity of nurses worldwide. BACKGROUND: The programme was launched in 1996 in order to boost nurse participation in the healthcare policy-making process, globally, and to foster within the nursing profession the requisite skills for nurses to lobby for and assume a greater responsibility in the leadership and management of health care services. INTRODUCTION: Over the course of two decades, the programme has been implemented in cooperation between ICN, national nurses associations, the World Health Organization, Ministries of Health and a variety of donor organizations such as the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and development agencies such as USAID and AUSAID. The programme has been implemented in more than 60 nations throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and the Pacific Islands, to name a few regions. METHODS: This article offers an overview of the impact that certified ICN LFC nurse trainers and their colleagues have had in the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and the United States of America and is affiliated islands and the North Pacific Islands. RESULTS: Twenty years of growth and empowerment are now the ongoing legacy of the ICN LFC Program, which has graduated and deployed nurse trainers around the world and achieved significant advances in the professional development of nurse leaders on an international scale. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY: Nurse leaders can improve the health and well-being of their nations in collaboration with consumers and other key stakeholders. Nurse leaders are critical in improving health systems, their work places and broader societal challenges through sound nursing practice, education, research and evidence-based health and social policy change.

Evidence-informed health policy making in Canada: past, present, and future.

Evidence-informed health policy making (EIHP) is becoming a necessary means to achieving health system reform. Although Canada has a rich and well documented history in the field of evidence-based medicine, a concerted effort to capture Canada's efforts to support EIHP in particular has yet to be realized. This paper reports on the development of EIHP in Canada, including promising approaches being used to support the use of evidence in policy making about complex health systems issues. In light of Canada's contributions, this paper suggests that scholars in Canada will continue engaging in the field of EIHP through further study of interventions underway, as well as by sharing knowledge within and beyond Canada's borders about approaches that support EIHP.

The basic benefit package: composition and exceptions to the rules. A case study.

With the introduction of the Health Insurance Act in 2006 in the Netherlands, the basic package of the former sickness funds became valid for all citizens. The basic benefit package has been subject to change, responding to increasing health care expenditures, medical innovations and the economic crisis. In this paper we address the decision criteria used to assess the package annually since 2006 and describe some developments that do not follow the criteria, leading to a yo-yo effect. We discuss the formation of the decision for in- or exclusion and why some treatments seem to follow an, at first sight, arbitrary in- and exclusion pathway. We first describe the official way of establishing the basic benefit package and than will describe why some treatments follow a deviated path. We conclude that political pressure and pressure from interest groups may lead to inclusion or postponement of exclusion. Reform of the organization of certain forms of health care (in our example mental care) may lead to seemingly inconsequent changes. The yo-yo effect of some treatments or pharmaceuticals may have negative effects on health care providers, insurers and patients. The seemingly well defined criteria available for defining the basic package appear to be broadly interpretable and other influences may determine the final decision of inclusion or exclusion.

Health care frames - from Virchow to Obama and beyond: the changing frames in health care and their implications for patient care.

RATIONALE, AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: Framing allows us to highlight some aspects of an issue, thereby bringing them to the forefront of our thinking, talking and acting. As a consequence, framing also distracts our attention away from other issues. Over time, health care has used various frames to explain its activities. This paper traces the emergence of various health care frames since the 1850s to better understand how we reached current ways of thinking and practicing. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The succession of the most prominent frames can be summarized as: medicine as a social science; the germ theory of disease; health care as a battleground (or the war metaphor); managing health care resources (or the market metaphor); Health for All (the social justice model); evidence-based medicine; and Obama Care. The focus of these frames is causal, instrumental, political/economic or social in nature. All remain relevant; however, recycling individual past frames in response to current problems will not achieve the outcomes we seek. Placing the individual and his/her needs at the centre (the attractor for the health system) of our thinking, as emphasized by the World Health Organization's International Classification of Function framework and the European Society of Person Centered Health Care, may provide the frame to refocus health and health care as interdependent experiences across individual, community and societal domains. Shifting beyond the entrenched instrumental and economic thinking will be challenging but necessary for the sake of patients, health professionals, society and the economy.

Consumers' perspectives on national health insurance in South Africa: using a mobile health approach.

BACKGROUND: Building an equitable health system is a cornerstone of the World Health Organization (WHO) health system building block framework. Public participation in any such reform process facilitates successful implementation. South Africa has embarked on a major reform in health policy that aims at redressing inequity and enabling all citizens to have equal access to efficient and quality health services. OBJECTIVE: This research is based on a survey using Mxit as a mobile phone-based social media network. It was intended to encourage comments on the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) and to raise awareness among South Africans about their rights to free and quality health care. METHODS: Data were gathered by means of a public e-consultation, and following a qualitative approach, were then examined and grouped in a theme analysis. The WHO building blocks were used as the conceptual framework in analysis and discussion of the identified themes. RESULTS: Major themes are the improvement of service delivery and patient-centered health care, enhanced accessibility of health care providers, and better health service surveillance. Furthermore, health care users demand stronger outcome-based rather than rule-based indicators of the health system's governance. Intersectoral solidarity and collaboration between private and public health care providers are suggested. Respondents also propose a code of ethical values for health care professionals to address corruption in the health care system. It is noteworthy that measures for dealing with corruption or implementing ethical values are neither described in the WHO building blocks nor in the NHI. CONCLUSIONS: The policy makers of the new health system for South Africa should address the lack of trust in the health care system that this study has exposed. Furthermore, the study reveals discrepancies between the everyday lived reality of public health care consumers and the intended health policy reform.

Understanding health care delivery as a complex system: achieving best possible health outcomes for individuals and communities by focusing on interdependencies.

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The concept of emergence offers a new way of thinking about multimorbidity and chronic disease. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Multimorbidity and chronic disease are the end results of ongoing perturbations and interconnected activities of simpler substructures that collectively constitute the complex adaptive superstructure known as us, the person or patient. Medical interventions cause perturbations of many different subsystems within the patient, hence they are not limited to the person's bodily function, but also affect his general health perception and his interactions with his external environments. Changes in these domains inevitably have consequences on body function, and close the feedback loop of illness/disease, recovery and regained health.

A literature review of the Dutch debate on the nurse practitioner role: efficiency vs. professional development.

AIM: To explore the debate on the development of the nurse practitioner profession in the Netherlands. BACKGROUND: In the Netherlands, the positives and negatives of nurse practitioners working in the medical domain have been debated since the role was introduced in 1997. The outcome of the debate is crucial for nurse practitioners' professional development and society's justification of their tasks. METHOD: Review of 14 policy documents, 35 opinion papers from nurses, 363 opinion articles from physicians and 24 Dutch research papers concerning nurse practitioners from 1995 to 2012. RESULTS: Two discourses were revealed: one related to efficiency and one to the development of the profession. In both, the nurse practitioner role was presented as a solution for healthcare and workforce problems, while arguments differed. The efficiency discourse seemed most influential. Opinions of nurse practitioners were underrepresented; taking up new responsibilities was driven by the wish to improve patient care. While most physicians were willing to delegate tasks to nurse practitioners, they wished to retain final responsibility for medical care. LIMITATIONS: All available publications were extensively studied, which could not include unpublished policy documents from the government or influential parties. This may have led to some selectivity. CONCLUSION: The case of the Netherlands shows that nurses in developing their advanced role are facing barriers, similar to those in other countries. The dominance of efficiency arguments combined with protection of medical autonomy undermines the development towards nursing care that really benefits patients. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY: Nurse practitioners should strive to obtain positions in which they are allowed to make their own decisions and wise use of healthcare resources for the good of patients and society. Nurse practitioners should aim to become members of influential healthcare Boards in their countries, in which they can raise their voices and be involved in policy making.

Health sector governance:Strategies and mechanisms / 中国卫生政策研究

Under the health integration strategies of public policy to health in all policies of all sectors and so-cial areas, government departments and social organizations form a broad consensus on the basis of the goals of gov-ernance, led by government health system operations, through the strengthening of coordination and cooperation a-mong government departments and social organizations as well as overall planning of the service functions of the health system, and the establishment of community participation in the performance accountability mechanism, in order to enhance the level of health sector governance and improve community health outcomes.

Divergence of NHS choice policy in the UK: what difference has patient choice policy in England made?

OBJECTIVES: To examine the types of choices available to patients in the English NHS when being referred for acute hospital care in the light of the divergence of patient choice policy in the four countries of the UK. METHODS: Case studies of eight local health economies in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales (two in each country); 125 semi-structured interviews with staff in acute services providers, purchasers and general practitioners (GPs). RESULTS: GPs and providers in England both had a clear understanding of the choice of provider policy and the right of patients to choose a provider. Other referral choices potentially available to patients in all four countries were date and time of appointment, site and specialist. In practice, the availability of these choices differed between and within countries and was shaped by factors beyond choice policy, such as the number of providers in an area. There were similarities between the four countries in the way choices were offered to patients, namely lack of clarity about the options available, limited discussion of choices between referrers and patients, and tension between offering choice and managing waiting lists. CONCLUSIONS: There are challenges in implementing pro-choice policy in health care systems where it has not traditionally existed. Differences between England and the other countries of the UK were limited in the way choice was offered to patients. A cultural shift is needed to ensure that patients are fully informed by GPs of the choices available to them.

Nurses' perceptions about health sector privatization in Turkey.

AIM: The aim of this study is to identify the perceptions of the nurses about the privatization implementation, as it pertains to privatization, health services privatization and the impact of privatization on nursing in Turkey. BACKGROUND: Turkey is taking important steps in health services privatization but the related choices made in political arena are not shared with the employees of the health institutions where the privatization implementations are to take place. METHODS: The study was conducted among nurses who are working for the state health institutions and the members of professional organizations of healthcare workers, which are operating in Istanbul in Turkey. Data were collected via Nurses' Privatization Perception Scale in 2009 and were analysed using mean calculations, analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney U-test, t-test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Cronbach's alpha analyses. FINDINGS: Nurses' perceptions of privatization in general, health services privatization and the impact of privatization on nursing were found to be negative in all of the three sub-domains of the scale, as well as their perceptions of privatization implementations measured throughout the scale. The conducted comparisons showed that nurses' perceptions of the privatization implementations varied in accordance with independent variables. CONCLUSIONS: The privatization implementations put in place in health services are perceived negatively by nurses. Policy makers in relevant fields are recommended to take the findings of this study into consideration.

Estrategias de reforma y protección social en salud en México, primera parte: efectos en financiamiento y gobernanza del sistema de salud / Health system reform strategies and health social protection in Mexico, first part: financing effects and health system governance

Objetivo: Identificar los efectos de las reformas en servicios de salud sobre indicadores de financiamiento y gobernanza en sistemas de salud. Material y métodos: Se diseño una investigación evaluativa basada en el método “rapid assesment”. El universo de estudio fue el sistema de salud para no asegurados en México y la población de estudio se delimito a seis estados seleccionados bajo diferentes criterios de factibilidad técnica, política y financiera. Para los datos primarios se realizaron entrevistas a profundidad con informantes clave de los estados participantes; para los datos secundarios se utilizaron estadísticas oficiales y los resultados del proyecto macro sobre reformas, políticas de salud, equidad, financiamiento y gobernanza en México, 1999-2006. El procesamiento y análisis de datos se realizó con 2 paquetes de software: ATLAS Ti y POLICY MAKER. Resultados/Conclusiones: A partir de las reformas se han registrado importantes incrementos en los montos del financiamiento en salud, estos cambios también han coincidido con ganancia en los índices de corresponsabilidad financiera; Existe una nueva fórmula de asignación de recursos, donde el nivel estatal ha jugado un rol protagónico en su revisión, ajustes y aplicación para las adecuaciones sobre los recursos asignados y sobre el modelo de atención a la salud que cada estado adopta en función de sus necesidades; La estrategia de protección financiera en salud en algunos estados ha disminuido gastos catastróficos en salud y por consecuente el mayor empobrecimiento de las familias más vulnerables; La rendición de cuentas en el nivel federal, aunque no está ausente, se mantiene con un carácter prescriptivo, mientras que en los estados y municipios aún está ausente un sistema de rendición de cuentas y de transparencia en la asignación de recursos.

Objective: To identify effects of health system reform on heath financing and health governance. Methods and data sources: A design of evaluative research based on rapid assessment was developed. The research object it was the health system for uninsured population in Mexico, focusing on six States selected considering technical, political and financial feasibility. For primary data gathering structured interviews with key informants of selected States were done; for secondary data, official statistical data and research results of the macro project on heath reform, health policy, equity, financing and health governance, 1999-2006. Information processing and analysis were done by using Atlas-Ti and Policy Maker software. Results / Conclusions: Health system reforms have showed strong influence in financing amounts and important gains in financial co-responsibility. An actualized formula for resources allocation was identified; this formula has involved States and local levels on its revision, adjustments and appliances on allocated resources and health services provision model adopted for the States in relation with their health needs. Financial protection strategy has reported protection versus catastrophic health expenditure and vulnerable families’ impoverishment in some States. Accountability in federal government it is not absent, but it functions as a prescriptive policy, while transparency and accountability mechanisms at the States and municipalities are absent.

La importancia de la percepción de los stakeholders en la comprensión del impacto: el programa del sistema básico de salud integral (Sibasi) y la calidad del servicio de salud primaria en El Salvador / Importance of stakeholder perception in understanding impact: the basic integrated health system (Sibasi) program and quality of primary healthcare in El Salvador

El presente documento recoge los resultados de una evaluación preeliminar, a la fecha, del impacto del programa Sibasi - Sistema Básico de Salud Integral - en la calidad de la atención en salud en El Salvador, utilizando una metodología que examina las percepciones de los stakeholders, entre los cuales se encuentran formuladores de política, profesionales de la salud y miembros de la comunidad. El documento presenta una breve revista a la reforma del sistema de salud en El Salvador y perfila la lógica detrás del sibasi, además de una perspectiva teórica sobre la calidad de la atención de salud. El estudio encontró que si bien el sibasi estaba bien concebido y tenía un potencial definitivo "el papel aguanta todo", no había logrado un éxito notorio. Adicionalmente, las barreras existentes en el sistema de salud en El Salvador - extrema pobreza, gobernabilidad ineficaz, politización, financiación pobre, y discordia en el proceso de reforma- limitaron seriamente el éxito del programa SIBASI.

Using a methodology which examines the perceptions of stakeholders, including policy-makers, healthcare professionals and community members, this paper details a preliminary evaluation of the impact thus far of the Basic Integrated Health System (Sibasi) program on quality of healthcare in El Salvador. The paper gives a brief overview of health systems reform in ElSalvador, outlines the logic behind the sibasi and presents theoretical perspectives on quality in healthcare. The study found that although the sibasi was “good on paper” and had definitepotential, it had not met with a great deal of success. Additionally, existing barriers in the health system in El Salvador- extreme poverty, ineffective governance, politicization, poor financing, and contention in the reform process- severely limited the success of the Sibasi program.