What are the overall principles of HBP design

What are the Overall Principles of HBP Design?

Introduction

To start thinking about health benefit package design, one can begin from the goal of UHC. The aim of UHC is to provide more and better quality services, to a greater proportion of the population in need, while also increasing the level of financial protection. These three objectives form the three axes of what is often called the “UHC cube”, which is shown below.

Expanding the cube to progress to UHC means that choices will need to be made in the context of limited resources. These choices will involve what services to include or exclude in health benefit packages, and to what degree services are provided to populations and at what level of cost-sharing. The resources in this section describe what principles should be followed when making benefit package decisions or setting up benefit package design processes. These principles are a critical starting point, and one to return to, when implementing a health benefit package design process.

Key WHO resources for understanding the overall principles

Resource	Description	Reference
1. Principles of Health Benefit Packages	Report highlighting eight principles that should be kept in mind when designing health benefit packages.	https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240020689
2. Making fair choices on the path to universal health coverage	Report emphasizing the importance of making decisions that balance multiple objectives, such as equity and efficiency, leading to choices that are considered fair.	https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/112671
3. “Priority-setting for national health policies, strategies and plans.” in Strategizing national health in the 21st century: a handbook	Chapter of a handbook highlighting best practices and guidance to support national health planning and strategizing for health. This chapter focuses on providing guidance on criteria and approaches for priority-setting.	https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/250221
4. From Value for Money to Value-Based Health Services: A Twenty-First Century Shift	Policy brief highlighting guidance on holistically valuing health through three main levers: benefit package design, strategic purchasing and integrated people-centered health services.	https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240020344
5. Benefit Design: The Perspective from Health Financing Policy	Policy brief discussing the importance of linking benefit package design to health financing mechanisms.	https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240045088