Publication: Kosovo : Report on Management Accountability in the Health Sector
Date
2007-06-28
ISSN
Published
2007-06-28
Author(s)
Gaumer, Gary
Abstract
This report assesses the opportunities
for improving the performance of the government health
sector in Kosovo through better management and improved
information for managers. Specifically, it concerns the
kinds of information used by managers in the health system,
and indications of demand for additional data and
performance measures. Overall, we try to assess the need for
new investments in information technology in the health
system as a means for improving health system performance.
The health system in Kosovo is a government system of six
regional hospitals, several smaller facilities; all
supported by a large tertiary university hospital and
associated specialists in Prishtina, and a set of
municipally-managed primary health centers (and their
subordinate health houses and ambulances throughout the
countryside). Written referrals are required for secondary
and tertiary care. Essential drugs are free in the clinics,
if available. The government operates and finances this
system in a traditional line budget way by paying salaries
directly from the Ministry of Economics and Finance (MOF),
and setting strict budget limits for facility managers for
goods and services and capital. Municipalities receive a
capitation grant from the MOF to help to finance the
clinics. Modest co payments are collected for ambulatory
care. There is essentially no private insurance. Health
behaviors are poor, particularly relating to reproductive
health, where maternal and birth outcomes are very poor.
Most telling about the service quality of the government
health system, the use of the private sector and nearby
out-of-country providers is growing, and may now exceed 50
percent of ambulatory care used by citizens. The report
summarizes the data collection activities (section two), the
framework for analysis (section three), the findings from
the study (section four), recommendations (section five).
Annexes contain data gathering forms and protocols
referenced in the text.
Citation
“Gaumer, Gary. 2007. Kosovo : Report on Management Accountability in the Health Sector. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/97d71b3b-1200-5a10-ba22-1397c1d8d9f4 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”