Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
COM/DELSA/GOV/A(2022)1
For Official Use English - Or. English
DIRECTORATE FOR EMPLOYMENT, LABOUR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS
PUBLIC GOVERNANCE DIRECTORATE
OECD Joint Network on Fiscal Sustainability of Health Systems – 10th
Meeting: Strengthening health system resilience whilst maintaining fiscal
sustainability – how can good health budgeting practices help?
DRAFT AGENDA
10-11 February 2022 13h00
Paris, France
Chair: Mr. Jo DE COCK, Belgium
Please register through the self-registration link or by email to
[email protected].
Zoom connection details will be sent to registered participants on Tuesday 8 February 2022.
Chris JAMES, Senior Health Economist, Health Division
tel. (+33-1) 45 24 89 69 –
[email protected]
Camila VAMMALLE, Senior Policy Analyst, Public Management and Budgeting Division
tel +(33-1) 45 24 74 29 -
[email protected]
OFDE
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to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
2 COM/DELSA/GOV/A(2022)1
Background – it is time to take stock and move towards good
budgeting practices for health
Enormous sums of money have been injected into countries’ health systems to combat COVID-19,
the worst health crisis in a century. OECD estimates that in high-income countries, an additional
1.5% of GDP per year is needed on average to make our health systems better able to meet the
challenges of COVID-19 and future health shocks. However, as countries are confronted with the
full scale of health-related investments, will Finance Ministries’ appetite for investment last? How
can financial sustainability be ensured, while creating space for funding investments needed to
make stronger, more resilient health systems?
Since 2011, this OECD Joint Network has brought together senior budget and health officials to
discuss key policy issues on the fiscal sustainability of health systems. It is time to take stock of
the lessons learnt, so that budgeting practices for health can adapt to the pressing health needs of
today and the future. The overall objective of this meeting is to start moving towards a set of OECD
good practices for health budgeting, in light of the pandemic. Such good practices should be ones
that ensure the fiscal sustainability of health systems, whilst strengthening health system resilience
and without compromising achievements made in access and quality of health care services.
Topics covered in the meeting are centred on the following issues:
How has COVID-19 affected health budgets now and in the future? How can medium-term
budgeting processes be used to achieve policy objectives on the fiscal sustainability of
health systems, while prioritising necessary investments in health systems in light of
COVID-19?
How can budgetary tools facilitate the digital transformation of health systems, building on
the unprecedented acceleration that has taken place during the pandemic?
For Official Use
COM/DELSA/GOV/A(2022)1 3
Day 1 – How can good health budgeting practices strengthen
health system resilience in light of COVID-19?
13:00-13:30. Item 1. Introduction – what are the key reforms needed to
strengthen health system resilience, and how can these be financed?
The on-going COVID-19 pandemic continues to put huge strains both on health systems and on
public finances. The virus has caused millions of deaths, directly and indirectly, and health systems
have had to rapidly ramp up health spending – coupled with reductions in economic activity, the
average health spending to GDP ratio across OECD countries jumped from 8.8% in 2019 to 9.7%
in 2020. Reflecting on this dual health and public finance challenge, a keynote presentation offers
a forward-looking perspective on the health system reforms needed to strengthen resilience, and
the feasibility of making this happen given current and future public finance constraints.
Introduction
Keynote presentation
13:30-14:00. Item 2. How can good health budgeting practices make
countries more agile to COVID-19 and other health shocks?
COVID-19 has created new health spending pressures, and highlighted both the strengths and
weaknesses of existing health budgeting processes. This session will explore how health budgeting
practices can help or hinder a country’s ability to respond to COVID-19 and other health shocks.
Indeed, over the last 10 years the Joint Network has analysed different aspects of Health
Budgeting, including: setting the level of health expenditure and revenues for health, linking
budgets with health objectives, capital budgeting and medium-term planning for health, early
warning systems and cost containment tools.
Building on these analyses, the Secretariat proposes to assess these different elements and work
towards a set of shared “good practices” for health budgeting across OECD countries. This session
will reflect on how to move establish such good practices.
Introduction
Country discussants
Open discussion on moving towards a set of good practices for health budgeting
14:00-15:00. Item 3. Focus on setting the level of health expenditure in the
short and medium-term
Focusing in on a fundamental issue of health budgeting – setting the overall health budget or a
health expenditure target – the pandemic has shown the importance of both transparent
approaches that reflect both healthcare needs and public finance realities.
This session will examine how countries set the overall budget for health as part of the annual
budget cycle, and how some countries are moving towards adopting multi-annual budgeting
approaches for health.
Introduction
Country practices
Discussion
15:00 End of Day 1
For Official Use
4 COM/DELSA/GOV/A(2022)1
Day 2 – Looking forward: budgetary tools and the digital
transformation of health systems
13:00-13:45. Item 4. Planning the digital transformation of health systems –
what is needed, what are the benefits?
A digital transformation of health care is taking place across OECD countries, accelerated by
COVID-19. From telehealth to artificial intelligence, and the digitalisation of health information
infrastructure, digital health can improve the accessibility and quality of health services, and
potentially produce cost-savings in the longer-term.
This session will outline the critical investments needed to undergo a digital transformation of health
systems – from basic physical infrastructure, to software and staff training – and its expected
benefits.
Introduction
Keynote presentation
13:45-14:30. Item 5. Implementing the digital transformation of health
systems – how can budgetary tools maximise its impact?
Good health budgeting practices can help facilitate the digital transformation, by ensuring digital
health is prioritised within budgets and planned for in the medium-term. For example, most EU
countries have included the digitalisation of their health systems in their Recovery and Resilience
Plans, and digitalisation is also high on the agenda of other OECD countries.
This session will discuss some of the main health financing implications of the digitalisation of
health, including governance challenges, how initial investment requirements can be incorporated
into current or capital budgets, taking into account lessons learned during the pandemic.
Country practices
Open discussion on health budgeting and the digital transformation of health systems
14:30-15:00. Item 6. Conclusions and upcoming activities for the OECD Joint
Network on Fiscal Sustainability of Health Systems
This concluding session will outline proposed upcoming activities of this OECD Joint Network. In
particular, discussion will focus on efforts to move towards a set of good practices for health
budgeting in light of COVID-19 (including setting up a working group and other modalities); and
specific health budgeting topics to explore further in 2022.
Introduction
Open discussion
15:00 End of meeting
For Official Use
Saatja: <
[email protected]>
Saadetud: 01.02.2022 11:39
Koopia: <
[email protected]>; <
[email protected]>;
<
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Teema: Reminder: Draft agenda and registration - 10th (virtual) Meeting
of the OECD Joint Network on Fiscal Sustainability of Health Systems
February 2022
Dear Colleagues,
The next meeting of the OECD Joint Network on Fiscal Sustainability of
Health Systems will be held on 10 and 11 February 2022 via zoom, from
13:00-15:00 Paris time on each day. The draft agenda is available at the
following link and is also attached to this email. Additional meeting
documents are forthcoming and will be published on the O.N.E community.
Meeting Agenda:
*
You are invited to register by 4 February 2022. A zoom link to connect
will be sent on Tuesday 8 February 2022 to pre-registered participants
only. To do so, please register via this .
If you are experiencing problems accessing the O.N.E. Members and
Partners website, to register or to access the meeting documents, please
contact .
Best regards,
Camila, Chris & Caroline from the OECD Joint Network
PS if you have a particular experience you want to share within the
agenda topics, please reach out to us.
Saatja:
[email protected] <
[email protected]>
Saaja:
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]
Teema: Final reminder: Updated agenda and registration - 10th (virtual) Meeting of OECD Joint Network on Fiscal Sustainability of Health Systems, Feb 10-11
Dear Colleagues,
Please find an updated agenda of this meeting of the OECD Joint Network on Fiscal Sustainability of Health Systems at the following link and attached to this email.
We can now confirm that Professor Mario Monti (President of Università Bocconi, and former Prime Minister of Italy) will give the keynote speech. We will also have speakers and panellists from OECD member countries and the World Health Organization, along with presentations by the OECD Secretariat.
A reminder on some practicalities. The meeting will be held on 10 and 11 February 2022 via Zoom, from 13:00-15:00 Paris time on each day. Along with the agenda, background documents are now available on the O.N.E community. If you did not receive an automated email notifying you of the new documents on the O.N.E community, please see the attached guide on how to turn on notifications.
Meeting Agenda:
* 10 & 11 February 2022<https://community.oecd.org/docs/DOC-206763>
Please register by 7 February. A zoom link to connect will be sent on Tuesday 8 February to pre-registered participants only. To do so, please register via this self-registration link<https://one.oecd.org/event/108995/en>.
If you are experiencing problems accessing the O.N.E. Members and Partners’ website, to register or to access the meeting documents, please contact
[email protected]<mailto:
[email protected]>.
Best regards,
Camila, Caroline and Chris from the OECD Joint Network