Health Financing
and Planning

Health financing and planning are critical to advancing towards Universal Health Coverage, ensuring that resources are mobilized, allocated and utilized efficiently to meet the health needs of the population. Strategic financing promotes transparency and accountability in resource allocation and its use, while systematic planning enables focussed investments towards in preventive, promotive and curative services, strengthening health systems and enhancing service delivery.

At HSTP, we are committed to advance equitable access to healthcare through evidence-based planning and financing approaches in our intervention states. We develop investment cases to increase government healthcare spending, driven by efficient planning and financial management. Through detailed health budget analyses, we help identify priority intervention areas, reduce regional disparities, support the implementation of performance-based financing and develop costed long-term planning for delivering specialized services.

OUR WORK

HEALTH BUDGET ANALYSIS

We analyse state health budgets to understand priorities, expenditure patterns, and resource utilization gaps, providing insights for informed decision-making. We assist states in evaluating financial sustainability and identifying additional funding sources. Health Financing and Planning Division conducted a trend analysis of Meghalaya’s health budgets, assessing priorities, spending efficiencies, and resource allocation gaps. We facilitate budget realignment and rationalization, streamlining health resources and enabling the Department of Health to secure increased funding from the Department of Finance. In addition, we also strengthen the capacities of state officials to formulate health budget, its management and analysis.

PERFORMANCE-BASED FINANCING

We provide technical assistance to the Department of Health, Meghalaya to strengthen health service delivery through the implementation of Internal Performance Agreements (IPAs)/Performance-Based Financing across the state. Through a comprehensive situational need assessment along with consultations with stakeholders including the Directorate of Health Services & the Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project (MHSSP), priority intervention areas were identified. We develop customized frameworks, indicators and assess the performance of the facilities to refine the implementation process. This has enabled the state to decentralize the financial resources to ensure financial autonomy in decision making in the use of resources as well as improving service delivery.

PLANNING FOR ESTABLISHING SPECIALIST SERVICES IN SECONDARY CARE FACILITIES

We recognize the need for providing specialized services in the secondary care facilities in resource constrained settings. We collaborate with states to identify resource requirements, develop action plans to operationalize cost-effective strategies to deliver specialist services. This integrated strategy enables health systems to respond more effectively to changing healthcare needs of the population at the regional level.

RESEARCH STUDIES

The Health Financing and Planning (HFP) team at HSTP conducts in-depth research utilising large-scale surveys, including the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), National Family Health Surveys (NFHS), National Sample Surveys (NSS), Comprehensive Annual Modular Surveys (CAMS), Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), Longitudinal Ageing Study of India (LASI) and Multiple Indicator Surveys (MIS), among others. Our research addresses key dimensions of health financing and planning, and health system strengthening such as state’s health budget analysis, health insurance coverages, financial burden, return on investment, and Universal Health Coverage (UHC). While our primary focus is on India, we also extend our efforts to the global landscape, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The research outcomes provide evidence-based insights to healthcare professionals, researchers and policymakers at the national and sub-national level to address the system specific challenges to improve overall health outcomes. Through strategic collaborations with domain experts and institutions, we adopt a multidisciplinary approach to ensure robust and comprehensive analyses. These endeavours consistently yield high-quality scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, substantially contributing to the evidence on advancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Universal Health Coverage.

Latest Updates

Assessing the Financial Burden of Multimorbidity among Patients aged 30 and above in India

This study published in the BMC Health Services Research, investigates the financial burden of multimorbidity on Indian households. Considering the high out of pocket expenditure (OOPE) and catastrophic health expenditures associated among those seeking care for multimorbidity, the study emphasises the need for integrated national health policies that address multimorbidity, strengthen public healthcare access, expand financial protection especially for outpatient care and prioritize preventive care to ease the financial burden on vulnerable population.

Sedentary work and expanding waistlines: a cross-sectional study on occupational roles and abdominal obesity in India

Our latest study titled ‘Sedentary work and expanding waistlines: a cross-sectional study on occupational roles and abdominal obesity in India’, published in BMC Public Health, sheds light on the direct link between occupational roles and abdominal obesity, emphasizing the urgent need for workplace health interventions and policy action.