The No-Destination Ship of Priority-Setting in Healthcare: A Call for More Democracy
In dealing with scarcity of resources within healthcare systems, decision-makers inevitably have to make choices about which services to fund. Setting priorities represents a challenging task that requires systematic, explicit and transparent methodologies with focus on economic efficiency. In addit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Kerman University of Medical Sciences
2018-04-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Health Policy and Management |
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| Online Access: | http://www.ijhpm.com/article_3424_b63bf42b9e6f568e87422a6831856b74.pdf |
| Summary: | In dealing with scarcity of resources within healthcare systems, decision-makers inevitably have to make choices about which services to fund. Setting priorities represents a challenging task that requires systematic, explicit and transparent methodologies with focus on economic efficiency. In addition, the engagement of the general public in the process of decision-making has been regarded as one of the most important aspects of the management of publicly-funded health systems in liberal democracies. In the current essay, we aim to discuss the problematics of public engagement in the process of resource allocation and priority-setting within the context of publiclyfunded health systems. Our central argument is that although there may be a conflict between democratic mechanisms of citizen participation and economic efficiency, in the extra-welfarist sense, expected for/from the system, the solution for this tension does not seem to rely on more or novel authoritative technocratic approaches, but rather on the deepening and betterment of democratic participation.
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| ISSN: | 2322-5939 2322-5939 |