The WHOCC for Health System and Financing (Director: Soonman Kwon) once again led discussions among experts, this time about issues concerning Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Health. The two-day (12-13 Feb) activity included a public seminar where students from Seoul National University and guests attended. Presentations from experts from different countries provided information about their current initiatives on PPP and reflections on the strategy. Themes emerged from the discussions include the need to identify the implicit / explicit motivation of each countries’ PPP initiatives, emphasis on the importance of accountability and the issues of transparency in contracting with private providers. There was also an overall consensus for the need for more evidence to show if PPP really works or not in a health system.
The second day of the activity paved way for a more in-depth discussion on PPP in the perspective of regulation and financial incentives. Discussions on (1) Government responsibility and overall health system architecture; (2) Regulation and legislation and enforcement appliance; (3) Financial incentives and the role of health insurance were led by each facilitator and the way forward on PPP was also discussed.
Summarizing from the outcomes of the in-depth discussions on PPP, there was a strong agreement that government should institute regulatory and legislative support for PPP. Highlight was the experience of East Asian countries where services provided in the private sector are included in the countries’ benefit packages. Context was also recognized important because of the varying involvement of the private sector in the health system, with East Asian countries having more private providers than other transitional Asian countries hence, difference in the degree of private provider participation. PPP in health as used by many countries, should be further understood as of its importance to health systems, justifying the need for this policy tool for better health and health systems planning and implementation.
ㅁ Lists of participants:
- Soonman Kwon (WHOCC-HSF, School of Public Health, Seoul National University)
- Tae-jin Lee (School of Public Health, Seoul National University)
- Myoungsoon You (School of Public Health, Seoul National University)
- Juhwan Oh (School of Medicines, Seoul National University)
- Gabriel Leung (School of Medicine, University of Hong Kong)
- Yingyao Chen (School of Public Health, Fudan University)
- John Langenbrunner (AusAID, Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
- Khuong Anh Tuan (Health Strategy and Policy Institute, Vietnam)
- Soulivanh Pholsena (Department of Medical Care, MOH Lao PDR)
- Lo Veasna Kiry (Dept of Planning and Health Information, MoH Cambodia)
- Baorong Yu (WHO China)
- Henrik Axelson (WHO Cambodia)
- Valeria de Oliveira Cruz (WHO Lao PDR)
- Phuong Nguyen (WHO Viet Nam)
- Ke Xu (WHO WPRO)
- Annie Chu (WHO WPRO)
- Vivian Lin (WHO WPRO)
- Clive Tan (WHO WPRO)
- Ngan Do Kim (WHO WPRO)
- Eunkyoung Kim (WHO WPRO)