Using financing to motivate a for-profit health care provider to deliver family planning services: is it a cost-effective intervention? A study of AAR health services in Kenya.
Despite much discussion of the role of private health care providers, there are no tried and tested models for supporting for-profit providers in ways that produce cost-effective public health outcomes. This paper examines the cost effectiveness of using a loan mechanism to motivate a for-profit provider to deliver family planning services. The intervention examined directly resulted in a private provider delivering family planning services, however, it did not create a long-term financial incentive for the private provider to promote the use of family planning. The cost effectiveness of this intervention is analysed using a methodology that captures long term sustainability of the intervention within a traditional family planning outcome measure, such as couple years protection (CYP), by discounting future expected CYPs. Depending on the method for analysing costs and assumptions regarding future CYPs, this intervention produced family planning outcomes at no or very low cost (0 dollars-4.11 dollars per CYP). The analysis demonstrates that innovative family planning interventions with private providers should be considered as they can be more cost effective than traditional programmes.
Chee
Grace
G
Abt Associates Inc., 4800 Montgomery Lane, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA. grace_chee@abtassoc.com
D002202:Capital Financing; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D019981:Health Care Sector; D006269:Health Facilities, Proprietary; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007630:Kenya; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D010067:Ownership; D017149:Private Sector; D011332:Privatization; D012052:Reimbursement, Incentive; D013997:Time Factors