Prioritization of Investments and Disinvestments in Healthcare
The chapter looks at the key concepts and issues involved in the prioritization of resources for investments and disinvestments in health services. It describes a framework for understanding what needs to be achieved in this arena. It describes three core components that underpin a coherent approach to prioritization (guiding principles, a tool to help gather and sift through the information, and coherent decision-making processes). The pragmatic overview emphasizes that the processes involved in prioritization matter, and that to do this consistently and with transparency for ethical reasons, as well as to make the task more manageable, is important. An example of a prioritization tool and guiding principles are given. Some ethical considerations in this arena are also discussed. In day-to-day work, many of the issues in this arena can be facilitated by applying the principles, even if a full blown priority setting process is not needed.