Publication: Verification of Performance in Results-Based Financing: The Case of Panama's PSPV Program
Loading...
Published
2015-08
ISSN
Date
2016-10-07
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This HNP knowledge brief focuses on the key findings of the World Bank case study entitled ‘verification of performance in Results-Based Financing (RBF): the case of Panama’s health protection for vulnerable populations program (PSPV)’ (2014). The case study covers 2011 and 2012 and concentrates its analysis on data stemming from two sources: quarterly reports produced during the verification process, and interviews conducted with stakeholders involved in the implementation of the PSPV program.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Perazzo, Alfredo; Carpio, Carmen; Sotomayor, Renzo. 2015. Verification of Performance in Results-Based Financing: The Case of Panama's PSPV Program. Health, Nutrition and Population Global
Practice Knowledge brief;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25126 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Verification of Performance in Results-Based Financing(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-08)Verification differentiates results-based financing (RBF) from other health-financing mechanisms, and it is considered an important process of RBF program design and implementation. Despite the vital role it plays in RBF, not much has been written about verification as a process, and information about different elements of the process, frequency, cost, and direct and indirect effects among others, is scarce. Panama’s Health Protection for Vulnerable Populations Program (PSPV) uses an RBF mechanism to deliver health services to the country’s rural poor. As in many RBF schemes, a major component of the PSPV is the verification of results. This study focuses on PSPV’s verification process, highlights its results and their application, and identifies lessons learned. Such information is useful to policy makers and technical experts interested in or designing RBF mechanisms.Publication Verification of Performance in Results-Based Financing Programs(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-11)Verification in results-based financing (RBF) mechanisms is one of the key differentiators between it and related health financing structures such as social health insurance. Verifying that providers have achieved reported performance in RBF mechanisms is considered a crucial part of program implementation and key to maintaining trust through transparency, as well as the viability of the mechanism. Verification is however a process which has thus far been little studied. Information on the methodologies used in different settings (including frequency and sampling methodology), the effectiveness of the verification process, the direct and tangential effects, and the cost is scarce. Plan Nacer employs one of the largest RBF mechanisms in the world and is therefore an excellent case study for the role, methodology and effects of the verification process. This study will give the background to Plan Nacer, detail the major characteristics of the verification process and draw lessons on the process which can inform the design of verification in RBF mechanisms in other countries.Publication Verification of Performance in Results-Based Financing(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-08)The Ministry of Public Health in Afghanistan implements a supply-side results-based financing (RBF) scheme to improve the provision of a standardized basic package of health services (BPHS) to its population. Contracting NGOs and “contracting-in” MOPH providers, this RBF program concentrates on high-priority maternal and child health services in the BPHS such as antenatal care (ANC), post-natal care (PNC), delivery care, nutrition, immunization coverage, tuberculosis (TB), as well as quality of care. It includes an intensive data verification method, focusing on both the quantity and the quality of delivered services, which was implemented between 2010 and 2013 by international third party organizations. This verification method was specifically used to ensure that providers reach performance thresholds and disburse performance payments. This case study describes the major characteristics of this RBF verification method. Taking stock of the experience of the MOPH, it aims at generating possible lessons for other RBF initiatives, thereby expanding knowledge and making RBF verification processes more efficient, sustainable and effective. This case study also responds to concerns about the future sustainability of RBF, particularly with regard to the intensive and external nature of verificationPublication Verification of Performance in Results-Based Financing(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-08)Since the end of the Taliban period, Afghanistan made remarkable progress, particularly in the health sector. Between 1990 and 2013, infant mortality declined from 121.3 to 70.2 deaths per 1’000 live births; under 5 mortality diminished from 179.1 to 97.3 deaths per 1’000 live births; and maternal mortality dropped from 1’300 to 460 maternal deaths per 100’000 live births. To further improve the coverage and utilization of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services, the Government of Afghanistan – under the stewardship of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) – launched a new supply-side Results-Based Financing (RBF) scheme, covering 11 provinces and providing a standardized basic package of health services (BPHS). This package focuses on priority MCH services such as antenatal care (ANC), post-natal care (PNC), delivery care, nutrition, immunization coverage, tuberculosis (TB), as well as quality of care. This RBF program contracts international NGOs, incentivizing them for both the quantity and the quality of select services.Publication Verification of Performance in Results-Based Financing : The Case of Community and Demand-Side RBF in Rwanda(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-06)Rwanda, led by its Ministry of Health, was the first African country to implement Performance- Based Financing (PBF) nationwide in its health centers and hospitals. The country then went on to pilot RBF interventions at the community level. Rewarding community members who provide and use Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services is an innovative form of Results-Based Financing (RBF). The supply-side of this community PBF scheme focuses on cooperatives of Community Health Workers (CHWs). It pays them to provide selected MCH services and rewards them for the quality of their reporting as well as for good management. Conversely, the demand-side of this community PBF scheme provides women with in-kind incentives when they utilize three selected MCH services in health centers. Verifying the performance of these interventions is an integral part of RBF program implementation. This case study aims to describe the verification mechanisms used in Rwanda, which include monthly verification of the quantity of services provided by the CHWs, quarterly assessment of the quality of the functioning of the CHW cooperatives (including its reporting), verification of the quantity of in-kind incentives distributed in a less systematic way, as well as counter-verification of these three verification processes. This paper presents results of these verification methods, and discusses the obstacles faced, the way they were addressed, and the challenges that are still ahead. This case study is part of a broader analysis, involving multiple country case examples. It endeavors to expand knowledge about verification processes and practices and to address the design and implementation needs of RBF programs.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Mapping Returns of Private Equity Investments in Emerging Markets(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-10)This paper fills a gap in research on private equity investments in emerging markets and developing economies. It provides descriptive evidence and examines the distribution of returns across sectors such as finance, technology, and resource-intensive industries like mining, where significant variation exists. Using data from the International Finance Corporation, the analysis finds that return distributions exhibit "fat tails", with a notable presence of investments yielding extremely high returns alongside others generating little or no return, highlighting the importance of diversification. The analysis reveals that firm-specific factors account for the largest share of return variability, with country and sector factors playing a smaller role. Gross domestic product growth and real exchange depreciation are significantly related to returns, with median elasticities of 0.35 and -0.67, respectively.Publication The Macroeconomic Implications of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Options(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-05-29)Estimating the macroeconomic implications of climate change impacts and adaptation options is a topic of intense research. This paper presents a framework in the World Bank's macrostructural model to assess climate-related damages. This approach has been used in many Country Climate and Development Reports, a World Bank diagnostic that identifies priorities to ensure continued development in spite of climate change and climate policy objectives. The methodology captures a set of impact channels through which climate change affects the economy by (1) connecting a set of biophysical models to the macroeconomic model and (2) exploring a set of development and climate scenarios. The paper summarizes the results for five countries, highlighting the sources and magnitudes of their vulnerability --- with estimated gross domestic product losses in 2050 exceeding 10 percent of gross domestic product in some countries and scenarios, although only a small set of impact channels is included. The paper also presents estimates of the macroeconomic gains from sector-level adaptation interventions, considering their upfront costs and avoided climate impacts and finding significant net gross domestic product gains from adaptation opportunities identified in the Country Climate and Development Reports. Finally, the paper discusses the limits of current modeling approaches, and their complementarity with empirical approaches based on historical data series. The integrated modeling approach proposed in this paper can inform policymakers as they make proactive decisions on climate change adaptation and resilience.Publication Beijing Consensus Or Washington Consensus : What Explains China's Economic Success?(2011-04)China's remarkable economic growth is often attributed to strong government intervention that can mobilize large amounts of resources to clear any bottleneck to growth or institutional change. This approach is often referred to as the Beijing Consensus (BC) as compared to the Washington Consensus (WC): the former being a model of authoritarianism and heavy state involvement in the economy, the latter a model of neoliberal and market-oriented doctrines. But these characterizations are inaccurate.Publication The Medium-Term Impact of Entrepreneurship Education on Labor Market Outcomes(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-01)Despite the widespread popularity of entrepreneurship education, there is thin evidence on its effectiveness in improving employment outcomes over the medium to long term. A potential time lag between entrepreneurial intentions and actions is sometimes presented as a reason why employment impacts are rarely observed. Based on a randomized control trial among university students in Tunisia, this paper studies the medium-term impacts of entrepreneurship education four years after students' graduation. The paper complements earlier evidence that documented small, short-term impacts on entry into self-employment and aspirations toward the future one year after graduation. The medium-term results show that the impacts of entrepreneurship education were short-lived. There are no sustained impacts on self-employment or employment outcomes four years after graduation. There are no lasting effects on latent entrepreneurship either, and the short-term increase in optimism also receded.