Resumen

PRADA, Sergio I.. Efficiency in healthcare services providers: case studies in the Colombian context. Rev. salud pública [online]. 2022, vol.24, n.1, pp.1-.  Epub 25-Mayo-2023. ISSN 0124-0064.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rsap.v24n1.103167.

Health systems around the world share a common concern: financial sustainability. The opportunity cost of public funds in the context of scarcity, demands from scholars, policy-makers and health services managers to actively seek for inefficient use of resources and for its correction. This paper presents a summary of the literature on conceptual frameworks to understand and identify possible sources of inefficiency in health systems. It also highlights some facts published in the grey literature for Colombia. Lastly, it illustrates with examples from the hospital context in Colombia several cases in which inefficiencies were detected and corrected. It is found that in the majority of cases no massive investments are required, instead what is required is agency and leadership to better integrate and coordínate teams to follow clinical practice protocols; institutional support to innovative processes and institutional support to look for best practices. The need for a cultural change within healthcare services providers towards information-based measurement and evidence-based decision-making.

Palabras clave : Health systems; efficiency; health services; hospital administration; sustainability (source: MeSH, NLM).

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