Debate over healthcare often focuses on two key issues: quality and cost. However, because of the unique characteristics of healthcare, this relationship is not as simple as it might seem. A recent Supreme Court of Canada judgement directly addressing aspects of quality of care, combined with...

Background: Decision makers within the Calgary Health Region adopted and applied programme budgeting and marginal analysis (PBMA) for priority-setting activity across major service portfolios within the Region. Methods: Seventeen in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with senior...

Drug coverage decisions require information about clinically relevant benefits and risks, as well as economic information about direct and indirect costs, in comparison with relevant treatment alternatives. A recent Canadian initiative aims to improve the evidentiary basis for drug coverage...

The inability of the Palestinian healthcare system to protect against the financial risks of ill health could be attributed to the prevailing sociopolitical conditions of the occupied Palestinian territory, and to some intrinsic system characteristics. It is recommended that pro-poor financing...

Background: Financial protection from the risks of ill health has globally recognized importance as a principal performance goal of any health system. This type of financial protection involves minimizing catastrophic payments for healthcare and their associated impoverishing effects....