title: [Singularization processes: a proposal for continuity between clinical activity and health policy objectives].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In 1996 the Gipuzkoa Territorial Health Agency (Basque Country, Spain) created the Health Plan Service. The aim was to transform the health objectives prioritized by the Health Department into intervention strategies to be incorporated into the local contract services.
  One of the procedures the service uses for this purpose, known as <<singularization>>, involves selecting a process linked to a prioritized health problem, and analyzing and reconstructing it so that the related activity, expected results, financial costs and its impact on the population's health can be identified. After this process the service provides the Territorial Health Agency, which is responsible for service purchase for the public and private sectors, with information about contract conditions for the process reviewed. Annual assessment of contract services monitors the extent to which the agreements made have been carried out and their consequences on the population's health. The present article deals with the process through which this <<singularization>> is carried out.
authors.affiliation: Servicio del Plan de Salud, Dirección Territorial de Gipuzkoa, Departamento de Sanidad, Gobierno Vasco, Vitoria, Alava, Spain. jbegiristain@ej-gv.es
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Beguiristain
authors.forename: Arantza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arrazola
authors.forename: Belén
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Elizalde
authors.forename: María E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Alkiza
mesh_terms: D032982:Contracts; D005380:Financing, Government; D006291:Health Policy; D006295:Health Resources; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006298:Health Services Administration / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration; D011634:Public Health; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013030:Spain; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*